UT-Knoxville to lead $25M nuclear technology research consortium

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville has been named the lead institution for a $25 million cooperative agreement awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation to support research relating to “nuclear security and nonproliferation missions,” a recent announcement said.According to a news release, the Enabling Capabilities in Technology Consortium will receive about $5 million a year for five years, which will fund the work of 35 graduate and 26 undergraduate researchers each year with potential plans to support additional students. The initiative is scheduled to begin in March 2025.The consortium includes the Air Force Institute of Technology; Clemson University; the Colorado School of Mines; Louisiana State University; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; North Carolina State University; Oregon State University; Texas A&M University; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of Hawaii; the University of Oklahoma; the University of Texas at San Antonio; the University of Utah; and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In addition, eight national laboratories are involved: Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and Savannah River National Laboratory.“This new consortium funded by the Department of Energy will lead advances in global security, clean energy and artificial intelligence that are especially critical to our nation and our world at this time,” said Jason Hayward, UCOR fellow and professor of nuclear engineering at UT and the director of the consortium’s executive team.“In particular, our efforts will help produce the new knowledge and the diverse talented workforce necessary to enable the U.S. and its allies to safely and securely triple nuclear power output throughout the world by 2050 and respond to emerging threats in space.”According to the announcement, the consortium’s main research thrusts are fundamental science in earth, environmental, atmospheric and space science; radio and nuclear chemistry; and applied science and engineering in areas of nuclear chemical engineering, advanced nuclear fuel systems engineering and reactor systems engineering. The program will leverage UT’s new bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, which is the first such degree program in Tennessee, the announcement said.“The state of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee have made outstanding investments in faculty and facilities over many years to enable us to be recognized as a leading institution in academic research and in the education of the future technical talent of the U.S. national laboratories and other nuclear-related fields,” Hayward said in a public statement. “In particular, UT’s Tickle College of Engineering has continued to attract many great people and to increase the breadth of its technical capabilities. This exciting success is evidence of its steady upward climb in prominence, impact and ranking.”