FY 2024 Integrated Research Project Awards
The Department of Energy is awarding nearly $9 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
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Lead University
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Funding Amount*
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Project Description
| Novel Device for Enhanced Access to Ultimate Heat Sink for Reduced Cost and Risks and Accelerated Site-Neutral Deployment of Advanced Reactors
| Georgia Institute of Technology
| $3,099,220
| Project will complete and optimize the design of a recently patented heat removal concept/device for nuclear reactors. The new device will be examined and demonstrated via modeling and prototype construction and testing. The project goals are to (1) enhance reactor safety, (2) increase achievable safe power levels, which improves the economy of reactor plants, (3) reduce capital costs per unit of generated energy, and (4) free the plant from site-specific deployment constraints.
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Experimental and computational assessment of thermodynamic stability of fission products in advanced reactor fuels
| University of Texas San Antonio
| $3,000,000
| Project brings together two minority serving institutions (The Universities of Texas at San Antonio and El Paso) and a leading DOE-NE national laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, in a collaborative effort to advance the state of knowledge for fission product behavior in advanced reactors fuels, particularly uranium mononitride (UN).
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Disruptive Manufacturing of Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Steels for Nuclear Applications | Texas A&M University-College Station
| $2,999,998
| Project involves the manufacturing of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels via a disruptive technology based on liquid metallurgy, and their microstructural characterization, mechanical testing at room temperature and elevated temperatures, ion irradiation, neutron irradiation, as well as post-irradiation examination. The microstructure, mechanical properties, irradiation resistance, and scalability will be compared against those of powder metallurgy manufactured counterparts.
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*Actual project funding will be established during contract negotiation phase.
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