Focus Areas
Reclaiming Our Resources:
Circular Economies to Advance U.S. CM/REE Supply Chains
Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this project will conduct interdisciplinary research exploring the legal, social and environmental justice considerations associated with the buildout of a domestic U.S. supply chain for critical minerals and rare earth elements.
Focusing on opportunities and challenges arising from the development of a circular economy in which critical minerals and rare earth elements are recovered from existing waste streams within the power generation and hard-rock mining sectors, the research aims to enhance the knowledge and understanding of policymakers, scholars and the public on the possibility of developing a more sustainable critical minerals and rare earth elements economy through existing waste streams.
Understanding Pore Space Values:
A Technical, Legal and Economic Analysis of Valuation Methodologies and Contractual Structures for Pore Space Acquisitions for Geologic Storage
Funded by the Department of Energy, the project aims to develop guidance for determining contract structures, relative compensation, and valuation methodologies for pore space on federal and private on-shore lands in the U.S.
The team hosted two compreshensive workships comprised of leaders in carbon sequestration from industry, academia and government to gather feedback and consolidate results in a comprehensive report.
Open Architecture for Nuclear Cost Reduction
Funded by the Department of Energy, The open architecture project led by UW-Madison has potential to reduce advanced reactor costs, through exploiting modular design and construction, with common, openly available interfaces between modules. The collaborative research team are performing a comprehensive assessment of the challenges and opportunities of open architecture for advanced reactors.
The objective of the project task led by JOULE is to identify how open architecture would facilitate Advanced Reactor licensing and regulation, and how to overcome the commercial and legal challenges to collaboration and info sharing among companies.
