DOE - Office of Nuclear Energy

March 5, 2007

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Department of Energy Awards $5.6 Million to U.S. Universities for Nuclear Research

WASHINGTON, DC. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced it will award $5.6 million over three years (FY’07-’09), subject to appropriate from Congress, to U.S. universities in 12 cooperative research projects, under the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI). These awards will further engage U.S. university professors and their students in advanced nuclear fuel cycle research and development (R&D), supporting President Bush’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) and his American Competitiveness Initiative.

“Engaging leading universities and researchers is crucial to supporting the development of GNEP and to expanding the use of safe, emissions-free nuclear power worldwide” Secretary Bodman said. “As our need for energy will increase, so too does our need for nuclear power, and the Energy Department has a strong set of nuclear programs that we believe can create an environment for a nuclear renaissance.”

Awards announced today support innovative research for nuclear energy and bring total federal funding for NERI to approximately $4 million in FY 2007 and; $11.4 million for the life of the projects. Since 2005, DOE has awarded $43.9 million for 82 NERI projects. Selected universities will contribute to the development of advanced nuclear technologies that will reduce America’s reliance on fossil fuels and their associated environmental impact.

Projects selected will be conducted by 15 U.S. universities in 12 states. Seven of these universities are participating in a NERI project for the first time, demonstrating the program’s success in broadening the nation’s nuclear research base: Cornell University, the University of California Davis, and the University of Missouri-Columbia as lead research institutions; Brigham Young University, Idaho State University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Texas at Austin as first-time collaborators.

Award amounts are subject to negotiation and are expected to be determined in June, 2007. Each project’s lead university will contribute an additional 20 percent cost share, totaling $1.2 million. Projects announced today, along with ten Generation IV and Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative projects awarded earlier this year, were selected on the basis of a rigorous peer review of 79 proposals submitted by universities across the United States.

In Fiscal Year 2008, DOE’s budget request will include $35.6 million in research to universities through NERI – as part of DOE’s Generation IV Nuclear Energy Initiative, the Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative, and the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative - to further support advanced nuclear energy R&D.

Advanced Fuel Cycle Research and Development

Project Title	*Participating Organizations (Lead)**
Economic, Repository and Proliferation Impacts of Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles	*Cornell University; University of Texas-Austin
Experimental Development and Demonstration of Ultrasonic Measurement Diagnostics for Sodium Fast Reactor Thermohydraulics	*Kansas State University
Chemistry of Transuranic Elements in Solvent Extraction Processes: Factors Controlling Redox Specialization of Pu and Np in Separation Processes	*Oregon State University; Argonne National Laboratory
Analysis of Advanced Fuel Assemblies and Core Designs for the Current and Next Generations of LWRs	*Texas Engineering; Experiment Station
Powder Metallurgy of Uranium Alloy Fuels for TRU-Burning Fast Reactors	* Texas Engineering Experiment Station
Neutronic/Thermalhydraulic Coupling Techniques for Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor Simulations	*Texas Engineering Experiment Station; University of Chicago; Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique; Argonne National Laboratory
New Fission-Product Waste Forms: Development and Characterization	*University of California-Davis; Sandia National Laboratory; Eltron Research, Inc.; Brigham Young University
Identification and Analysis of Critical Gaps in Nuclear Fuel Cycle Codes Required by the SINEMA Program	* University of Cincinnati Idaho State University Idaho National Laboratory
Fundamental Processes of Coupled Radiation Damage and Mechanical Behavior in Nuclear Fuel Materials for High Temperature Reactors	*University of Florida; Idaho National Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory
Fundamental Studies of Irradiation-Induced Defect Formation and Fission Product Dynamics in Oxide Fuels	*University of Illinois-Urbana; Los Alamos National Laboratory
Radiation-Induced Segregation and Phase Stability in Candidate Alloys for the Advanced Burner Reactor	*University of Michigan; University of California-Berkeley; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Computations for Advanced Nuclear Fuels	*University of Missouri-Columbia