I get the feeling that PRISM technology will be a big part of what they say here -
"In the future, it may be more cost effective to produce new fuel with used nuclear feedstock than by beginning with natural uranium"
https://www.nei.org/advocacy/make-regulations-smarter/used-nuclear-fuel
Recycling Used Nuclear Fuel
With next generation advanced reactors under development, many developers are looking at a suite of recycling technologies,
beyond current approaches, that could potentially allow for greater use of the energy in used fuel. There are a wide range of innovative advanced reactor designs being considered and each would call for different feedstock strategies. There also are developing technologies that would extract valuable radioisotopes (e.g., for medical purposes) from used fuel. In both cases, feedstock could be produced by recycling used fuel of all types discharged from current light water reactors or—in the future—used fuel from advanced reactors. The U.S. Department of Energy has entered into several agreements with developers to fund research and development of these recycling technologies.
Recycling technologies should increase the economic competitiveness of future nuclear reactors
In the future, it may be more cost effective to produce new fuel with used nuclear feedstock than by beginning with natural uranium—lowering electricity bills, spurring economic growth, and improving energy equity.
Recycling should help improve U.S. energy security
Recycling, in conjunction with increased domestic uranium production, could enable a long‐term strategy to reduce U.S. dependence on imported uranium nuclear fuel.
- Owners of the existing U.S. nuclear fleet have viewed the economics of recycling as too uncertain to justify the necessary investments.
However, recent changes in global nuclear fuel markets and burgeoning interest in advanced nuclear reactors could cause these views to shift in favor of recycling.
(20min delay)