The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded 23 Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) projects to support the deployment of advanced reactors, fuel cycle development, and the continued operation of the existing nuclear reactor fleet. The user awards advance President Trump’s efforts to re-establish the US as a global leader in nuclear energy and support the recent Executive Order 14302, Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base, to increase access to research infrastructure and expertise at DOE’s national laboratories.
RTE awards provide nuclear energy researchers timely access to irradiation testing, post-irradiation examination, and technical expertise provided through the Department’s Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) at no cost to the researchers.
The selected RTE project research teams will have up to nine months to complete their experiments and include 23 principal investigators from 12 universities, three national laboratories, and two advanced reactor companies, to work with NSUF on their proposed experiments. These include two UK universities – Oxford and Huddersfield.
DOE said the competitively selected projects encompass a range of nuclear fuels and materials research that will advance next-generation nuclear technologies. Key materials being studied include advanced metallic fuels, silicon carbide, molten salts, structural steels, fibre optics, and additively manufactured sensors that could be promising candidate materials for use in advanced nuclear reactors. The research capabilities provided for this work are equal to approximately $1.4m in support.
NSUF advances the mission of DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy through a consortium of state-of-the-art irradiation and post-irradiation testing facilities that can be utilised in support of nuclear energy research and development. Each facility brings exceptional capabilities and expert mentors to the projects.
This is the first round of fiscal year 2025 RTE awards. The next RTE call for proposals in fiscal year 2025 is a now open. A Super RTE call for proposals that allows for larger scopes of work and up to 12 months to complete a project is also anticipated later in the year.
