The need for safe, carbon-free energy is growing exponentially. Nuclear energy will play a key role in meeting that need. Grainger College of Engineering researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are pursuing innovation in its operation, utilization, and deployment.

To do so effectively, Grainger Engineering has established a new research unit: the Illinois Nuclear Power Institute (INPI). INPI will serve as a transformational R&D hub dedicated to solving critical deployment challenges. By offering access to world-class facilities — including a planned commercial microreactor operating under a research license — INPI provides a comprehensive platform for stakeholders to innovate in operation, utilization, and deployment within a realistic environment.

Caleb Brooks, INPI director and nuclear, plasma & radiological engineering professor, said INPI “offers the nuclear industry, regulators, and world opportunities and flexible research settings for a wide range of projects. Interdisciplinary collaboration can accelerate innovation and ensure that nuclear energy remains a cornerstone of a resilient, low-carbon energy future.”

Illinois has been a major leader in nuclear energy since the dawn of the technology. INPI will continue that tradition of leadership, moving into a new generation of advanced reactor technology.

Susan A. Martinis, senior vice chancellor for research & innovation with the U. of I., said "Our university has a proud legacy in nuclear power research and operation. INPI positions Illinois as a global leader in nuclear innovation and deployment at a time when advancing the technology is crucial to meeting society’s growing energy, environmental, and security needs. It will provide new research opportunities for our faculty and students, academic and enterprise partners and many others in the scholarly and research community.”

"INPI extends the rich tradition of leadership in nuclear energy at our college,” said Rashid Bashir, dean of The Grainger College of Engineering. “Illinois Grainger engineers are at the forefront of nuclear energy innovation, and INPI will play a key role in developing research platforms to ensure that the reactor demonstration project ushers in the next generation of nuclear technologies. INPI will do so by developing the advanced nuclear reactors and nuclear professionals that will impact the state of Illinois and the nation at large.”

Advanced reactor technologies will require a paradigm shift in the way reactors are deployed and integrated with new applications and in how reactors are operated and maintained. Tim Grunloh, INPI associate director and principal research scientist, said, “INPI is already developing ‘boots on the ground’ experience licensing and deploying advanced reactors.”

INPI is seeking collaborators from private enterprise, academia, and national laboratories across a range of applications around advanced reactors, novel deployments, and enabling technologies. This will include, among many others, instrumentation and control, operations, maintenance, cybersecurity, modeling and simulation and more.