The collaboration centers on the PaCERS (Packed Centrifugal Equipment for Radiochemical Separation) system developed by Argonne. By utilizing extreme centrifugal forces, the equipment streamlines chemical extraction, significantly reducing solvent requirements and increasing economic efficiency. SHINE plans to integrate this technology into its proprietary REDUCE process—Recover Elements, Destroy Undesirables, Create Energy—to extract valuable isotopes like strontium-90 and americium-241 for industrial and medical applications.

Beyond isotope recovery, the partnership addresses the long-term challenge of radioactive waste mitigation. Ross Radel, CTO of SHINE, emphasized that the company is leveraging its existing expertise in medical isotope production to push PaCERS toward commercial viability. This initiative complements SHINE’s separate efforts to use fusion-generated neutrons to transmute long-lived isotopes, potentially reducing the required isolation period for nuclear waste from thousands of years to mere decades. As the company works toward its goal of commercializing these recycling technologies, it is also running parallel projects to modernize nuclear material accountability, ensuring the entire fuel cycle remains both efficient and proliferation-resistant.