Benjamin Beeler

Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering, Joint Faculty Appointment with INL

Dr. Beeler received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a post-doctoral researcher jointly at the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the NC State faculty, he was a computational scientist in the Computational Microstructure Science group in the Fuels Modeling and Simulation department at Idaho National Laboratory. He is the current lead of the Microstructure Fuel Performance Modeling working group for the United Stated High Performance Research Reactor program.

Education

Ph.D. 2013

Nuclear and Radiological Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

M.S. 2011

Nuclear and Radiological Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

B.S. 2008

Nuclear and Radiological Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Research Description

His professional interests are atomistic description and evolution of nuclear fuel and structural materials. He has extensive experience on interatomic potential development, particularly related to uranium and uranium-alloys. He has studied a number of phenomena in nuclear materials including radiation damage, effects of strain on point defects, diffusion, free surface and grain boundary properties, fission gas bubbles, thermal transport and optical properties. His research has primarily utilized density functional theory, molecular dynamics and phase-field methods.

Publications

Grain boundary self-diffusion and point defect interactions in α-U via molecular dynamics
Mahbuba, K., Beeler, B., & Jokisaari, A. (2025), Journal of Nuclear Materials. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.155521
A Finite Difference informed Random Walk solver for simulating radiation defect evolution in polycrystalline structures with strongly inhomogeneous diffusivity
Mao, Z., Li, Y., Park, G., Beeler, B., & Hu, S. (2025), COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE, 246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2024.113371
Assessment of effective elastic constants of U-10Mo fuel: A multiscale modeling and homogenization study
Kadambi, S. B., Aagesen, L. K., Zhang, Y., & Beeler, B. (2024), JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, 599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.155225
Assessment of uranium nitride interatomic potentials
AbdulHameed, M., Beeler, B., Galvin, C. O. T., & Cooper, M. W. D. (2024), JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, 60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.155247
Calculation of grain boundary diffusion coefficients in γ U-Mo using atomistic simulations
Hasan, A. T. M. J., & Beeler, B. (2024), JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, 598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.155190
First-principles investigation of lanthanides diffusion in HCP zirconium via vacancy-mediated transport
Shousha, S., Beeler, B., Aagesen, L. K., Beausoleil II, G. L., & Okuniewski, M. A. (2024), JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, 601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.155310
First-principles investigation of the thermophysical properties of NaCl, PuCl3, and NaCl-PuCl3 Molten salts
Duemmler, K., Andersson, D., & Beeler, B. (2024, April 1), JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, Vol. 591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.154902
KCl-UCl3 molten salts investigated by Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics (AIMD) simulations: A comparative study with three dispersion models
Andersson, D. A., Wang, G., Yang, P., & Beeler, B. W. (2024), JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, 599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.155226
Magnetism and finite-temperature effects in UZr 2: A density functional theory analysis
Shousha, S., & Beeler, B. (2024), JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, 595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.155037
Thermophysical properties and unexpected viscosity of liquid (U, Zr): An atomistic investigation
Tranchida, J., Nicaud, F., Beeler, B. W., & Bourasseau, E. (2024), JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 160(21). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0203177

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Grants

Mechanical Response and Chemical effects at the Fuel-cladding Interface of HT-9 and Metallic Fuel
US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(10/01/22 - 9/30/25)
Integration of Microstructural Modeling
US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(2/07/20 - 12/31/24)
Modeling Failure Modes of TRISO Layers, CNP Core Project 11
Consortium for Nuclear Power (CNP)- Dept of Nuclear Engineering(11/01/22 - 6/30/23)
Ab Initio Modeling of Molten Salts - Release 28
US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(3/09/20 - 9/30/22)
Atomistic Investigations of Defects in Alpha U and UZR
US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(1/21/20 - 9/30/22)