EU use of critical raw materials needs improvement for circular economy
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dels and the sheer expense and complexity of today’s research in quantum materials make it difficult for this task to be carried out by the large industrial R&D labs as was the case in the United States 50 years ago. Universities, by themselves, are also not the right places for this type of research. On the other hand, the US National Laboratories, with their large scientific, operational, and management infrastructure, and university and industrial R&D ecosystems around them, are the optimal locations for this type of goaloriented research, he says. “Take for example the challenging task of building a high brightness x-ray beamline, intended to be the most powerful 4th-generation storage ring-based light source facility in the world, that Argonne National Labs is undertaking. It involves exquisite levels of scientific design, engineering design, understanding of the basic science we wish to do, a commitment to operational discipline and efficiency, and costs in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” Guha says. “A task such as this that has so many scientific and engineering nuances, is one that the National Labs are primed for. A large program in Quantum Information Systems will benefit from this type of experience.” Asked where the private sector fits into the quantum materials research needs, Guha says industry is contributing heavily
EU use of critical raw materials needs improvement for circular economy
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ritical raw materials are not used to their full extent as part of the circular economy and there are several opportunities for improvement to reuse and recycle these materials, according to a recent report, “Critical Raw Materials and the Circular Economy,” published by the EU Joint Research Centre. The report provides a detailed analysis for some specific sectors, such as extractive waste, electric and electronic equipment, batteries, automotive, and renewable energy, describing the current
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state of play for key critical raw materials and identifying a number of good practices in each sector. The report concludes that for several economic sectors in the EU, the use of critical raw materials is far from being fully circular. The gaps are due to various factors, including the loss of materials during collection and recycling of end-of-life products. The report identifies opportunities and formulates advice for future actions. It discusses policy actions at
to quantum computing research “and this therefore includes some work in quantum materials research, most importantly work on superconducting qubits which has been the focus of the leading private sector companies in this space. However, in terms of work on a wide array of different quantum materials, there is a lot of untapped and unexplored opportunity.” “Real quantum materials [for QISs] require synthesis,” J. Stephen Binkley, Deputy Director of the Office of Science at the US Department of Energy (DOE), told legislators at the October hearing. The DOE oversees operation of the National Laboratories, including ANL. Binkley said the research challe
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