WASHINGTON, June 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy says it will award up to $405,000 in fellowships to nine graduate students pursuing research related to nuclear fuel.

The fellowships, valued at up to $45,000 per student over two academic years, are part of the Energy Department's Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, or AFCI.

The research must be related to the nuclear fuel cycle, including separation of nuclear waste components, fabrication of recycled components into reactor fuel and the preparation of new waste forms with increased long-term stability, officials said.

The selected students are pursuing master's degrees in nuclear engineering, applied physics or other fields of science and engineering.

The 2008 AFCI fellows and their schools are Brian Ade, Purdue University; Jeffery Hetherly, the University of North Texas; Glenn Lockwood, Rutgers University; Elizabeth Long from North Carolina State University; Mark Massie, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Terrance McGuire, the University of Cincinnati; Jeffrey Powers, the University of California-Berkeley; Jeremy Roberts, the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Aaron Wysocki from the University of Florida.