Hearing to examine the goals, schedules and costs of the advanced fuel cycle technologies research and development (R&D) program in the Administration's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) proposal.

Abstract: The proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) Program, which is part of the President's Advanced Energy Initiative, is intended to support a safe, secure, and sustainable expansion of nuclear energy, both domestically and internationally. Domestically, the GNEP Program would promote technologies that support economic, sustained production of nuclear-generated electricity, while reducing the impacts associated with spent nuclear fuel disposal and reducing proliferation risks. The Department of Energy (DOE) proposed action envisions changing the United States nuclear energy fuel cycle from an open (or once-through) fuel cycle--in which nuclear fuel is used in a power plant one time and the resulting spent nuclear fuel is stored for eventual disposal in a geologic repository--to a closed fuel cycle in which spent nuclear fuel would be recycled to recover energy-bearing components for use in new nuclear fuel. At this time, DOE has no specific proposed actions for the international component of the GNEP Program. Rather, the United States, through the GNEP Program, is considering various initiatives to work cooperatively with other nations. Such initiatives include the development of grid-appropriate reactors and the development of reliable fuel services (to provide an assured supply of fresh nuclear fuel and assist with the management of the used fuel) for nations who agree to employ nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes, such as electricity generation.

An overview of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), including proposed advanced reactor technologies for recycling nuclear waste: hearing before a subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session: special hearing, September 14, 2006, Washington, DC.

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership : hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate; One Hundred Tenth Congress, first session; to receive testimony on the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership as it relates to U.S. policy on nuclear fuel management; November 14, 2007.