Abstract
Responsible production is a persistent challenge across industries. Production technologies are often framed as sustainable without accounting for full lifecycle impacts. This issue connects both of my research projects, which examine how technological solutions address challenges of waste and sustainability. My technical research focused on designing a pilot-scale plant to recycle spent nuclear fuel, which is used reactor fuel that still contains valuable actinides but is typically treated as waste. The goal was to reduce long-term nuclear waste and improve resource efficiency. My STS research examines sustainable textile technologies, arguing that many popular solutions prioritize marketable claims over systemic change. This benefits consumers in the Global North while externalizing environmental and labor impacts elsewhere. Together, these projects show that responsible production is not only a technical challenge but also a sociotechnical one, requiring alignment between engineering design and societal values.
My technical research investigated the feasibility of a pilot-scale pyroprocessing facility for recycling spent nuclear fuel. The problem addressed was the long-term environmental burden of current nuclear fuel cycles. Nuclear energy is one of the cleanest sources of energy available, but only a small fraction of usable energy is extracted from reactor fuel before disposal. This long lived nuclear waste can be reprocessed into new reactor fuel using pyroprocessing, which utilizes high temperature molten salts to separate valuable actinides from non-recoverable fission products. The pyroprocessing plant design includes process units: electrolytic reduction, electrorefining, electrowinning, and molten salt purification. We used electrochemical principles such as Butler-Volmer kinetics and Faraday’s law, literature from national laboratories, and prior conceptual designs to size equipment and estimate performance. Our findings showed that pyroprocessing can effectively recover valuable actinides while reducing high level waste, therefore decreasing radiotoxical hazards to the environment. The recovery of transuranic metals also decreases the reliance of unethical metal mining practices. The drawbacks to our process include time intensive late stage recovery processes, and expensive initial capital costs. This shows that while the technology is promising, meaningful environmental and economic benefits depend on scaling up the process.
My STS research analyzed sustainable textile technologies to understand why they fail to improve sustainability outcomes in the Global South. The problem found was the disconnect between how sustainability is defined and marketed, versus its actual impacts across supply chains. Using the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework (Pinch & Bijker, 1984), I examined how brands and consumers shape which technologies are adopted and as a result, how sustainability is measured. I analyzed examples such as recycled materials, biodegradable textiles, and certification systems like OEKO-TEX and the Global Recycled Standard, alongside literature on lifecycle assessments and the foundations of sustainability. The findings show that sustainability in fashion production is framed as visible, consumer-facing attributes. Upstream impacts such as labor conditions, water use, and pollution remain unaddressed. As a result, sustainability becomes something that is primarily accessible to consumers in the Global North, reinforcing global inequalities rather than resolving them.
Together, these projects contribute to understanding responsible production by demonstrating both the potential and the limitations of technological solutions. My technical work shows that engineering design can meaningfully reduce environmental harm, but only if implemented at sufficient scale and supported by infrastructure. My STS work shows that sustainability must account for the full scope of people affected. Otherwise, even well designed technologies will fail to achieve their fullest impacts. Future researchers should focus on integrating technical innovation with policy, economic incentives, and global equity considerations. For pyroprocessing, this means advancing large scale deployment validated by engineering scale data, and working with regulatory bodies for public support. For sustainable textiles, it emphasizes redefining sustainability to include upstream impacts and labor conditions. Ultimately, responsible production must be approached as a sociotechnical system rather than a purely technical solution.
I would like to thank Eric Anderson for guiding our technical project throughout the year, as well as my teammates Joanne Kuan, Olivia Coleman, Johnny Metinko, and Sohit Bonthala for their collaboration and support. I am grateful to Dr. Gary Koenig and Dean Yost for teaching us the electrochemical principles that informed our reactor design and analysis. I also thank Dr. Caitlin Wylie for her guidance and support in developing my STS research. Their mentorship and encouragement were essential to the completion of this work.
