In research applications requiring large investments and high schedule or cost risk, technology readiness assessment (and its result, knowledge of the technology readiness level) can be a useful decision-informing tool. Applying technology readiness levels to nuclear fuel cycle technologies involves several challenges, but methods exist to resolve these challenges. This paper introduces the concept of technology readiness in the context of nuclear research, development, and deployment, discusses key challenges and how those challenges might be resolved, and discusses on-going developments of the concept by the US Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy.
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