FY 2023 Integrated Research Project Awards
The Department of Energy is awarding nearly $6 million for three Integrated Research Projects (IRPs), which address well-defined but highly complex technical issues impacting key Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) mission objectives. IRPs are multi-million-dollar, three-year projects executed by university-led consortiums that typically include multiple universities, industry, national laboratories, and international research entities. IRPs comprise a significant element of DOE's innovative nuclear research objectives and illustrate NE's strategy to pursue R&D solutions most directly relevant to NE's mission. IRP award recipients are listed below.
Title
| Lead University
| Funding Amount*
| Project Description
| Grand Challenge to Accelerated Deployment of Advanced Reactors – A Predictive Pathway for Rapid Qualification of Core Structural Materials
| University of Michigan
| $3,000,000
| Project will provide a predictive tool incorporating ion irradiation and computational materials modeling to determine the microstructure and mechanical properties of core structural materials, benchmarked against reactor data and codified in ASTM standards, to provide licensees with a justification of core material performance in their safety case for the NRC, and thus, accelerating the deployment of advanced reactor designs critical to achieving the U.S. clean energy climate change goals.
| Exascale Simulation of Thermal-Hydraulics Phenomena in Advanced Reactors and Validation Using High Resolution Experimental Data
| CUNY City College
| $1,499,999
| CCNY and UNM will work with ANL to guide and train the students in the use and development of Nek5000/RS for simulations of two benchmark problems: CCNY's experiments on helium-air mixing in HTGR cavities and Purdue's experiments on thermal stratification of a liquid metal in a pool-type SFR. UNM will conduct Star-CCM+ simulations of the same benchmark experiments. The results will be compared to achieve a better understanding of the physics and to improve the codes.
| | Research, Education and Training Center of
Excellence on Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Towards Advanced Reactor
Technology | Virginia Commonwaelth University
| $1,500,000
| Three MSIs (VCU, VUU, and VSU) will establish a research, education, and training Center of Excellence to bring together in-depth expertise on nuclear fuel cycle and waste management to support our future advanced reactor designs. Directly related to the center are experts in nuclear chemical science and engineering, radiation and health physics, isotope separations and detections, mechanical engineering and economics & finance.
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*Actual project funding will be established during contract negotiation phase.
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