The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy has awarded more than $5.3m for 15 university-led infrastructure projects at 14 universities in 13 states. The funding will support cross-cutting nuclear energy research and development (R&D) and associated infrastructure to develop innovative technologies that offer the promise of dramatically improved performance for advanced reactors and fuel cycle concepts. This investment supports President Trump’s May Executive Order Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base.
The university proposals that will receive infrastructure awards are:
- Kansas State University: $138,18 to refurbish the primary tank at the Kansas State University Research Reactor;
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $233,107 to continue modernisation of post-irradiation-examination capability at the nuclear reactor laboratory;
- Oregon State University: $804,00 to replace the overhead crane for the TRIGA Mk II research reactor;
- Pennsylvania State University: $911,300 for ageing reactor safety system replacement at the Breazeale Nuclear Reactor; $244,606 to establish a facility for high-fidelity characterization of material corrosion;
- Purdue University: $280,838 to expand its Nuclear Science User Facilities;
- Rhode Island Nuclear Science Center: $681,850 for a new fission chamber;
- State University of New York, Stony Brook: $337,868 to provide new diffraction-contrast x-ray tomography equipment;
- The Ohio State University: $181,092 for infrastructure expansion;
- University of Florida: $242,720 to enhance its Integrated Nuclear Fuel and Structural Materials research centre;
- University of Michigan: $300,000 to establish the Optical Characterisation Facility;
- University of New Mexico: $198,788 to advance facilities for synergistic liquid and gas environmental testing of materials;
- University of Notre Dame: $249,999 to expanding nuclear research capabilities to include mass spectrometry;
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville: $251,650 to establish an in-situ scanning electron microscope for nuclear materials; and
- University of Wisconsin – Madison: $249,699 for general scientific infrastructure.
Actual project funding will be established during the award negotiation phase. Since 2009, DOE has awarded more than $95m for university nuclear energy infrastructure projects and upgrades. DOE’s Infrastructure Program is managed by the Nuclear Energy University Program with support from the Nuclear Science User Facilities.
