May 14, 2009
The DOE says it is going to be shipping off $44 million over the next three years to 31 schools for 71 nuclear energy R&D projects. The funding is coming under the auspices of DOE’s Nuclear Energy University Program. The goal, of course, is to figure out a way to improve the use of nuclear power to mitigate the climatic changes. Actual funding is expected to start flowing in the fourth quarter of 2009.
“The next generation of nuclear power plants – with the highest standards of safety, efficiency and environmental protection – will require the latest advancements in nuclear science and technology. These research and development university awards will ensure that the United States continues to lead the world in the nuclear field for years to come,” said DOE Secretary Steven Chu.
The monies are targeting three specific areas of research:
- Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative
- Next Generation Nuclear Plant/Generation IV Nuclear Systems
- Light Water Reactor Sustainability
- Investigator-Initiated Research
DOE also announced that is accepting applications for individual nuclear science and engineering scholarships and fellowships under the NEUP. The agency has set aside a $2.9 million pot, via its Center for Advanced Energy Studies, for these fellowships and scholarships. CAES is now accepting application requests.
Contracts for the R&D projects are expected to be awarded by September 30, 2009 by the Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, a Management and Operating contractor for DOE at the Idaho National Laboratory.
More information about the 71 research and development awards is available HERE.
1Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative projects
| School | Project |
| Boise State Univ. | Irradiation Creep in Graphite1 |
| Cleveland State Univ. | Modeling the Stress Strain Relationships and Predicting Failure Probabilities For Graphite Core Components1 |
| Colorado School of Mines | TRISO-Coated Fuel Durability Under Extreme Conditions1 |
| Drexel Univ. | Neutron Damage and MAX Phase Ternary Compounds3 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | Fundamental Understanding of Ambient and High-Temperature Plasticity Phenomena in Structural Materials in Advanced Reactors1 |
| An Innovative and Advanced Coupled Neutron Transport and Thermal Hydraulic Method (Tool) for the Design, Analysis and Optimization of VHTR/NGNP Prismatic Reactors2 | |
| Atomistic Calculations of the Effect of Minor Actinides on Thermodynamic and Kinetic Properties of UO2+x3 | |
| Idaho State Univ. | Advanced Elastic/Inelastic Nuclear Data Development Project1 |
| Removal of 14C from Irradiated Graphite for Graphite Recycle and Waste Volume Reduction2 | |
| MIT | Heterogeneous Recycling in Fast Reactors1 |
| Millimeter-Wave Thermal Analysis Development and Application to Gen IV Reactor Materials2 | |
| Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology | Thermodynamic Development of Corrosion Rate Modeling in Iron Phosphate Glasses1 |
| North Carolina State Univ. | Development of Subspace-Based Hybrid Monte Carlo-Deterministic Algorithms for Reactor Physics Calculations1 |
| Accurate Development of Thermal Neutron Scattering Cross Section Libraries2 | |
| Understanding Creep Mechanisms in Graphite with Experiments, Multiscale Simulations, and Modeling2 | |
| Multiaxial creep-fatigue and creep-ratcheting failures of Grade 91 and Haynes 230 alloys toward addressing the design issues of Gen IV nuclear power plants2 | |
| Verification & Validation of High-Order Short-Characteristics-Based Deterministic Transport Methodology on Unstructured Grids2 | |
| Microscale Heat Conduction Models and Doppler Feedback2 | |
| Optimizing Neutron Thermal Scattering Effects in Very High Temperature Reactors2 | |
| Ohio State Univ. | SiC Schottky Diode Detectors for Measurement of Actinide Concentrations from Alpha Activities in Molten Salt Electrolyte1 |
| Investigation of Countercurrent Helium-air Flows in Air-ingress Accidents for VHTRs2 | |
| Testing of Performance of Optical Fibers Under Irradiation in Intense Radiation Fields, When Subjected to Very High Temperatures2 | |
| Oklahoma State Univ. | Simulations of Failure via Three-Dimensional Cracking in Fuel Cladding for Advanced Nuclear Fuels1 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Improvements to Nuclear Data and Its Uncertainties by Theoretical Modeling1 |
| Non Destructive Thermal Analysis and In Situ Investigation of Creep Mechanism of Graphite and Ceramic Composites using Phase-sensitive THz Imaging & Nonlinear Resonant Ultrasonic Spectroscopy2 | |
| SUNY-Stony Brook | Sharp Interface Tracking in Rotating Microflows of Solvent Extraction1 |
| Texas A&M University | Bulk Nanostructured FCC Steels with Enhanced Radiation Tolerance1 |
| Fuel Performance Experiments and Modeling: Fission Gas Bubble Nucleation and Growth in Alloy Nuclear Fuels1 | |
| A Distributed Fiber Optic Sensor Network for Online 3-D Temperature and Neutron Fluence Mapping in a VHTR Environment2 | |
| Investigation on the Core Bypass Flow in a Very High Temperature Reactor2 | |
| CFD Model Development and Validation for High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System Applications2 | |
| Study of Air ingress across the duct during the accident conditions2 | |
| Univ. of Arizona | Verification of the CENTRM Module for Adaptation of the SCALE Code to NGNP Prismatic and PBR Core Designs2 |
| Univ. of California, Berkeley | Integral and Separate Effects Tests for Thermal Hydraulics Code Validation for Liquid-Salt Cooled Nuclear Reactors2 |
| Maximum Fuel Utilization in Fast Reactors without Chemical Reprocessing3 | |
| Univ. of California, Davis | Computational Design of Advanced Nuclear Fuels1 |
| Univ. of California, Santa Barbara | Advanced Models of LWR Pressure Vessel Embrittlement for Low Flux-High Fluence Conditions4 |
| Univ. of Cincinnati | Mechanisms Governing the Creep Behavior of High Temperature Alloys for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems2 |
| Univ. of Colorado, Boulder | ALD Produced B2O3, Al2O3 and TiO2 Coatings on Gd2O3 Burnable Poison Nanoparticles2 |
| Univ. of Florida | Developing a High Thermal Conductivity Fuel with Silicon Carbide Additives3 |
| Univ. of Idaho | Data Collection Methods For Validation of Advanced Multi-Resolution Fast Reactor Simulations1 |
| Experimental Study and Computational Simulations of Key Pebble Bed Thermomechanics Issues for Design and Safety2 | |
| Prediction and Monitoring Systems of Creep-Fracture Behavior of 9Cr-1Mo Steels for Reactor Pressure Vessels2 | |
| Fabrication of Tungsten-Rhenium Cladding Materials via Spark Plasma Sintering for Ultra High Temperature Reactor Applications3 | |
| Ionic Liquid and Supercritical Fluid Hyphenated Techniques for Dissolution and Separation of Lanthanides, Actinides, and Fission Products3 | |
| Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | Understanding Fundamental Material Degradation Processes in High Temperature Aggressive Chemomechanical Environments2 |
| Univ. of Michigan | Simulations of the Thermodynamic and Diffusion Properties of Actinide Oxide Fuel Materials1 |
| Multi-Scale Multi-physics Methods Development for the Calculation of Hot-Spots in the NGNP2 | |
| Corrosion and Creep of Candidate Alloys in High Temperature Helium and Steam Environments for the NGNP2 | |
| Creation of a Full-Core HTR Benchmark with the Fort St. Vrain Initial Core and Validation of the DHF Method with Helios for NGNP Configurations2 | |
| Improved Fission Neutron Data Base for Active Interrogation of Actinides3 | |
| Univ. of Missouri, Columbia | Adsorptive Separation and Sequestration of Krypton, I and C14 on Diamond Nanoparticles1 |
| Fission Product Sorptivity in Graphite2 | |
| Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas | Development of Alternative Technetium Waste Forms1 |
| Quantification of UV-Visible and Laser Spectroscopic Techniques for Materials Accountability and Process Control1 | |
| Identifying and Understanding Environment-Induced Crack Propagation Behavior in Ni-Based Superalloy INCONEL 6172 | |
| Utilization of Methacrylates and Polymer Matrices for the Synthesis of Ion Specific Resin3 | |
| Univ. of Nevada, Reno | High-Fidelity Space-Time Adaptive Multiphysics Simulations in Nuclear Engineering1 |
| Univ. of New Mexico | Graphite Oxidation Simulation in HTR Accident Conditions2 |
| Univ. of South Carolina | Tritium Sequestration in Gen IV NGNP Gas Stream via Proton Conducting Ceramic Pumps2 |
| Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison | Advanced Mesh-Enabled Monte Carlo Capability for Multi-Physics Reactor Analysis1 |
| Ab Initio Enhanced Calphad Modeling of Actinide Rich Nuclear Fuels1 | |
| Development of Diffusion Barrier Coatings and Deposition Technologies for Mitigating Fuel Cladding | |
| Chemical Interactions (FCCI)1 | |
| Thermal Properties of LiCl-KCl Molten Salt for Nuclear Waste Separation2 | |
| Materials, Turbomachinery and Heat Exchangers for Supercritical CO2 Systems2 | |
| Experimental Studies of NGNP Reactor Cavity Cooling System with Water2 | |
| Assessment of Embrittlement of VHTR Structural Alloys in Impure Helium Environments2 | |
| Modeling Fission Product Sorption in Graphite Structures2 | |
| Liquid Salt Heat Exchanger Technology for VHTR Based Applications2 | |
| Improved LWR Cladding Performance by EPD Surface Modification Technique3 | |
| Utah State University | Effect of Post-Weld Heat Treatment on Creep Rupture Properties of Grade 91 Steel Heavy Section Welds2 |
1Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative 2Next Generation Nuclear Plant/Generation IV Nuclear Systems 3Investigator-Initiated Research 4Light Water Reactor Sustainability