Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday that would require the Department of Energy (DOE) to bolster nuclear technology through conducting a review of American nuclear fuel recycling opportunities.

The Advancing Research in Nuclear Fuel Recycling Act of 2025 — also sponsored by Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich — would ensure that the DOE conducts a study to evaluate the historical and present challenges of nuclear fuel recycling and recommend policies to overcome those challenges. President Donald Trump has moved to boost nuclear energy through multiple executive orders and the DOE has worked to advance the technology in line with the orders.

“Spent nuclear fuel has the potential to dramatically increase America’s energy, economic, and national security. Domestic recycling can reduce the space we need for spent nuclear fuel, enhance energy independence, reduce our dependence on imports, and broaden the supply of rare elements and isotopes used in medicine and advanced technologies,” Cruz told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Recycling solutions will also reduce the burden on individual states from nuclear waste accumulation, and accelerate progress on nuclear energy, which is our nation’s cleanest baseload energy source. I’m proud to work with Sen. Heinrich on this legislation and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass this bill.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Ted Cruz Looks To Shield Key Gas Projects From Activist Lawsuits)

Advancing Research in Nuclear Fuel Recycling Act by audreystreb

Cruz and Heinrich first introduced the bipartisan legislation in 2024 during the 118th Congress. The Texas senator told the DCNF that nuclear energy is a key resource and that the U.S. can advance it through recycling “spent nuclear fuel,” a practice that has already been used or advanced by France, the United Kingdom and Japan, among others.

“The term ‘recycling’ means the recovery of valuable radionuclides, including fissile materials, from nuclear waste, and any subsequent processes, such as enrichment and fuel fabrication, necessary for reuse in nuclear reactors or other commercial applications,” the bill text states.

The legislation calls for the DOE secretary to begin the study “not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.”

The study will “analyze the practicability, potential benefits, costs, and risks, including proliferation, of using dedicated recycling facilities to convert spent nuclear the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, shall carry out a study — fuel, including spent high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, into useable nuclear fuels, such as those for commercial light water reactors, advanced nuclear reactors and medical, space-based, advanced-battery, and other non-reactor applications, as determined by the Secretary.”

Additionally, the act calls for the DOE study “to identify any regulatory gaps related to nuclear waste management and recycling, including accuracy and consistency of relevant definitions for radioactive waste.”

Several nuclear energy companies and trade associations like Curio, Oklo and the Nuclear Energy Institute support the legislation, according to Cruz’s office.

Former President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order prohibiting recycling nuclear fuel for commercial reactors in 1977 over a perceived nuclear weapons risk. Though former President Ronald Reagan later reversed the order, commercial reactors in the U.S. have yet to embrace repurposing nuclear fuel waste.

Though recent administrations including the Biden administration have tried to boost nuclear energy technology, sector experts have previously explained to the DCNF that the industry has been bogged down by red tape for decades, though Trump’s recent orders represent positive moves in the right direction.

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