DOE awards NPRE researchers $1 million for nuclear energy research

Researchers in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering (NPRE) have secured over $1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Universities Program (NEUP).

The largest portion of the NEUP grant, $876,332 over three years, will support the work of NPRE Department Head Jim Stubbins and his group in learning how various materials stand up to radiation. Researchers will perform post-radiation analysis and develop tools for future development and application of the Fe-Cr class of alloys. The results of this research will lead to better modeling of performance and development of alloys of choice for reactor fuel cladding and structural applications in advanced nuclear systems.

For the past five years Stubbins and his group have been studying radiation effects on materials ranging from pure iron to complicated ferritic steels composed mostly of iron and chromium. Studies have been conducted using the reactor irradiation facilities at the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory.

NPRE’s materials researchers were the first to use ATR’s “rabbit” facility with an experiment conducted in September 2011. The facility offers a pneumatic tube researchers can use to shoot specimens into the INL’s reactor to irradiate specimens. That way, the reactor doesn’t need to be shut down to load specimens. In addition to the rabbit irradiations, a larger irradiation program was carried out with specimens loaded directly into the reactor for longer irradiation exposures.

Also from the NEUP program, $160,000 was awarded Professor Rizwan Uddin to perform modeling studies to characterize the performance of concrete used in the casks that store spent fuel. Uddin’s work is part of a University of Houston proposal aimed at investigating the performance of dry cask storage systems under multiple hazard systems (earthquake, tornados, combined with aging effects) using a probabilistic multi-hazard framework. This framework will be validated based on experimental research and will provide improved models for safety and reliability of spent nuclear fuels during storage and transportation.

Altogether, the DOE awarded $47.2 million in scholarships, fellowships, research projects and university research reactor upgrades to train and educate the next generation of leaders in America’s nuclear industry. The NEUP awards announced this week will support nuclear energy R&D and student investment at 46 colleges and universities around the country.

“We must invest in the next generation of American leaders in science, technology, engineering and math in order to fulfill our commitment to restarting America’s nuclear industry and making sure that the United States stays competitive in the 21st,” said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. “The awards will help train and educate these future leaders while strengthening our competitive edge and developing the innovations we need to create new jobs and export opportunities for American-made nuclear technologies.
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Contact: James F. Stubbins, Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, 217//333-2295.

Writer: Susan Mumm, coordinator, Alumni Relations & Development Office, Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering, 217/244-5382.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.