The Laboratory last week hosted a U.S.-Japan conference on rare earth elements research and development for clean energy technologies.

The two-day roundtable at LLNL, organized by the Lab's César Pruneda in cooperation with the Department of Energy, looked at the rare earth elements (REE) crisis and assessed their geological availability; recovery, extraction and separation of REE from mineral ores; improved manufacturing and use of REE; and alternatives and substitutes for REE technologies.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry defines REE as rare earth metals with a collection of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table, namely scandium, yttrium, and the 15 lanthanides. Scandium and yttrium are considered rare earth elements since they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties.

Despite their name, REE (with the exception of the highly unstable promethium) are found in relatively high concentrations in the Earth's crust.

REE are found in everything from iPods to batteries in electric-powered cars to solar panels to computer hardrives to windmills. They are considered critical components to both the defense industry and clean energy technology, Pruneda said.

Earlier this year, DOE formed a Critical Materials Strategy Working Group. Part of the working group's goal is to gather information from U.S. allies on the state of REE research and technology; REE are a sub-set of the broader family of critical materials. The U.S.-Japan conference is the first such meeting. There will be a U.S.-EU meeting in a couple of weeks.

Part of the Lab meeting focused on what areas need further research and development in REE including cleaner technologies to extract the materials. Pruneda said that similar processes and technologies that are used to separate actinides in nuclear science may apply to separation of REE.

A new report by the U.S. Geological Survey states that approximately 13 million metric tons of REE exist within known deposits in the United Sates. This estimate of domestic REE is part of a larger report that includes a review of global sources for REE, information on known deposits that might provide domestic sources of REE in the future, and geologic information crucial for studies of the availability of REE to U.S. industry.

Although the USGS report indicates there are plethora amounts of REE in the United States, accessing that REE is another story. It takes anywhere from 10-20 years for a REE mine to open up.

"Our job as a national laboratory is to inform policy," Pruneda said. "This is the first step in gathering information from our allies about these critical materials."

U.S. participants included researchers from the Laboratory, DOE, Colorado School of Mines, U.S. Geological Survey, Ames Laboratory, Molycorp Minerals LLC, Idaho National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, National and Security Technologies LLC, and the Advance Research Projects Agency-Energy ( ARPA-E).

Japanese participants included researchers from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology; Kansai University;  New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization; Tohoku University; Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation; and Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry.

Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a national security laboratory, with a mission to ensure national security and apply science and technology to the important issues of our time. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.