The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) just announced that it is awarding more than sixty-one million dollars for ninety-nine advanced nuclear energy projects in thirty states and a U.S. territory. The funded projects will focus on nuclear energy research, cross-disciplinary technology development, and nuclear reactor infrastructure to improve the resiliency and utilization of the largest domestic energy source of low-carbon energy generation in the U.S. Fifty-eight million of the DoE funds will be awarded to U.S. universities. This DoE program will assist the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of one hundred percent clean electricity by 2035 and net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Jennifer M. Granholm is the U.S. Secretary of Energy. She said, “Nuclear power is critical to America’s clean energy future and we are committed to making it a more accessible, affordable and resilient energy solution for communities across the country. At DOE we’re not only investing in the country’s current nuclear fleet, but we’re also investing in the scientists and engineers who are developing and deploying the next generation of advanced nuclear technologies that will slash the amount of carbon pollution, create good-paying energy jobs, and realize our carbon-free goals.”
Nuclear power supplies about twenty percent of the total electricity in the U.S. In order to realize the full potential of nuclear power, much more research and development are needed to ensure the creation and operation of cost-effective nuclear power. New methods for securely transporting, storing, and disposing of spent nuclear fuel waste must be established.
The new awards are being managed through DoE’s nuclear energy programs including —the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP), the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET), and the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF). The awardees will:
• Enhance America’s Nuclear Energy Infrastructure and Increase the Safety of Nuclear Waste Storage - The work developed through the NEUP awards will support a wide variety of students and faculty across the nation who are conducting outstanding, cutting edge research and will strengthen university training structures. Sixty-nine university-based projects in twenty seven states will receive about forty-nine million dollars in DoE funding to develop innovative solutions for increasing the nation’s nuclear energy capabilities. These include novel methods for isolating, immobilizing, and storing nuclear waste. In addition, twenty-four university based project will receive about six million dollars for research dedicated to improving nuclear reactor infrastructure and providing critical safety and performance upgrades to some of the twenty-five U.S. university research reactors.
• Improve Resiliency of Nuclear Reactor Facilities – Four projects getting awards through NEET and NSUF are housed at Iowa State University, North Carolina State University, GE Research and DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They will develop advanced materials, manufacturing, and digital instrumentation technologies to support advanced nuclear reactors and to investigate the applications of nuclear fuel and materials. These projects will receive about three million dollars in funding. They will be supported by about four million dollars in facility access costs and expertise for experimental neutron and ion irradiation testing, post-irradiation examination facilities, synchrotron beamline capabilities, and technical assistance for design and analysis of experiments through NSUF.
Including these awards, the DoE’s Office of Nuclear Energy has now awarded more than eight hundred sixty-three million dollars to continue the U.S. leadership in clean energy innovation and to educate the next generation nuclear engineers and scientists through its competitive opportunities since 2009.