SHINE takes on the safeguards, licensing, and isotope market questions behind MARIE — the tool the U.S. nuclear industry could use to evaluate the first commercial recycling facilities.
JANESVILLE, Wis. — June 17, 2026 —SHINE, a fusion energy company with a platform expanding into nuclear fuel recycling, has joined the EPRI-led consortium funded under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) CURIE program to help build a Model for the Assessment of Reprocessing and Recycle with Innovative Execution (MARIE) — the optimization tool the U.S. nuclear industry could use to evaluate and underwrite the first commercial used fuel recycling facilities. SHINE was added through a recent plus-up to the original award. The contract is signed and work is underway.
Independent, non-profit energy R&D institute EPRI leads the consortium with a number of industry partners. SHINE’s role covers the security, regulatory, and commercial questions facing a U.S. nuclear recycling industry:
- Safeguards-by-design. Translating SHINE’s experience licensing Chrysalis, its medical isotope production facility, into design considerations for a future recycling facility.
- Licensing path. Mapping what drives licensing costs for a U.S. recycling facility, and how to manage them.
- Isotope market potential. Applying SHINE’s experience as a commercial isotope producer to assess the markets for valuable isotopes recoverable from used fuel.
Two of the resulting reports will be published publicly by EPRI.
“Recycling effectively makes nuclear fuel a renewable resource, reshaping the next era of clean energy. The companies that figure out how to license and build the facilities will set the pace for U.S. recycling, and that’s the work we’re doing in this consortium,” said Greg Piefer, founder and CEO of SHINE.
SHINE’s work on MARIE sits inside a broader commercial push. The company is targeting a pilot facility capable of processing 100 metric tons of used nuclear fuel per year in the early 2030s, which is the kind of facility MARIE is designed to help underwrite. Roughly 90,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel sit in U.S. storage today, and SHINE’s strategy is to turn that inventory into a strategic energy asset.