DOE Announces $13 M in Nuclear Innovation Awards

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday announced nearly $13 million in nuclear energy innovation awards. The awards include $10.9 million to 13 projects to solve common challenges, including improving reactor safety, performance and cost competitiveness and $1.6 million in three university-led education projects.

The 13 projects that won the $10.9 million award fall under two categories:

• Advanced Methods for Manufacturing (total $3 million, 4 projects) to improve the production and design efficiency of nuclear plant components including advanced concrete construction methods, near-net shape fabrication methods and joining processes that can be used in small modular reactor manufacturing.
• Reactor Materials (total $7.9 million, 9 projects) to conduct research into advanced reactor materials for piping, wiring cladding and other related structures in nuclear reactors and across the nuclear fuel cycle.

The $1.6 million investment in three university-led projects will help train and educate the next generation of nuclear energy scientists and engineers, the DOE said. “Through the Advanced Test Reactor National Scientific User Facility Program (ATR NSUF) and the Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP), these projects will connect university teams with a national network of ATR NSUF partner research reactors and other unique research facilities.” The awards, subject to final negotiations, include:

• Pennsylvania State University, along with scientists from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will lead an experiment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology research reactor. The project will assess instruments that allow operators to better monitor changes in nuclear reactor material properties when the reactor is producing power. (DOE Award: $600,000)
• University of Illinois will perform their experiment at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s beamline at Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source accelerator. The project will evaluate the changes that steel experiences under radiation. Ensuring that steel can withstand radiation at high temperatures is critical to moving forward with advanced reactors. (DOE Award: $100,000)
• University of Michigan, along with scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will conduct research at the university as well as at Idaho National Laboratory. The project will examine whether post-irradiation heating can reduce or eliminate cracks in steel that can occur in light water reactors materials after years of operation. The research will help to understand why these cracks occur and how they might be reduced without costly component replacements. (DOE Award:  $907,000)

Source: DOE
—Edited by Sonal Patel, Senior Writer (@POWERmagazine)