The funding will be used for 93 selected projects for nuclear energy research, facility access, crosscutting technology development, and infrastructure. The projects will also help in commercialization of nuclear technology into the market.
DOE said that a number of participants will also receive technical and regulatory assistance through the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative.
The GAIN initiative aims to provide access to the technical, regulatory, and financial support to the nuclear community to move innovative nuclear energy technologies toward commercialization.
The US DOE is also awarding $21m for six integrated research projects (IRPs). The projects include a jointly-funded project between the Office of Nuclear Energy and the Office of Environmental Management for enhanced glass forms for nuclear waste immobilization.
Additionally, $7m will be granted to seven research and development projects which are led by Department of Energy national laboratories, industry and US universities.
These projects will research to address crosscutting nuclear energy challenge to help develop advanced sensors and instrumentation, improved manufacturing methods, and materials for multiple nuclear reactor plant and fuel applications.
The DOE has selected eight university, two national laboratory, and one industry-led project to investigate important nuclear fuel and material applications while leveraging Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) capabilities.
The Energy Department will also award over $9m for experimental neutron and ion irradiation testing, post-irradiation examination facilities, synchrotron beamline capabilities, and technical assistance for design and analysis of experiments through the NSUF.
Over $1m is also being awarded to three projects at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory for further materials and instrumentation research. Visit here for details.
