The US Department of Energy awarded the Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research (CINR) awards for 2024-25. It represents more than $19.1 million to support nuclear energy research and development, university nuclear infrastructure, and undergraduate and graduate education. Projects will help expand access to nuclear energy, moving the nation closer to meeting the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Dr. Kathryn Huff, former Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy remarked,
“U.S. universities and colleges are critical incubators of groundbreaking ideas that can move us toward a clean energy future. These awards invest in the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers who will continue to advance nuclear energy as a solution to tackling the climate crisis.”
CINR awards to NC State Nuclear Engineering faculty include,
ADVANCED NUCLEAR MATERIALS CATEGORY
Jacob Eapen (PI). “Hi-fidelity characterization of molten salt – graphite pore interactions through experiments and embedded modeling” | $1,100,000
Lingfeng He (PI) & Ayman Hawari (Co-PI). “Assessing molten salt corrosion resistance of stainless steel 316H in nuclear reactor environments“ | $1,100,000
EXISTING PLANT OPTIMIZATION
Jason Hou (Co-PI) (PI – Juliana Pacheco Duarte, UW-Madison). “Accident Tolerant Fuels to Support Power Uprates in LWRs“ | $1,100,000
STRATEGIC NEEDS BLUE SKY CATEGORY
Alexander Bataller (PI) and Benjamin Beeler (Co-PI). “Advancing Fundamental Molten Salt Modeling using Ultrafast Spectroscopy” | $600,000
Igor Bolotnov (Co-PI; PI – Yang Liu, Virginia Tech).
“Interface-Resolved Experimental and Numerical Studies of Two-Phase Flow for Nuclear Engineering Applications” | $500,000
PHASE II CONTINUATION CINR AWARD CATEGORY
Igor Bolothov & Nam Dinh (Co-PIs) (PI – Elia Merzari, Pennsylvania State University). “Center for Thermal-Fluids Applications in Nuclear Energy: Toward Industry Adoption” | $1,458,693
Wen Jiang (co-PI) (PI – Brian Wirth, University of Tennessee – Knoxville). “Multi-physics fuel performance modeling of TRISO-bearing fuel in advanced reactor environments” | $1,250,000