Research Activities

Excellence in teaching and research are regarded as the major responsibilities of the nuclear engineering faculty. Every faculty member is currently associated with an externally funded program of research. Research groups are generally small, allowing ample opportunity for each graduate student to maintain close and informal association with the faculty. The departmental research funding recently has been over $1,500,000. The research interests of the faculty cover a number of the areas of importance to the development of nuclear energy, including fission, fusion and radiation physics. About 35 papers based on graduate student and faculty research are published each year in refereed journals. Several faculty are affiliated with one of two research centers that operate primarily with industrial funding. These are the Electric Power Research Center (EPRC) and the Center for Engineering Applications of Radioisotopes (CEAR).   EPRC is funded jointly by the electrical utilities in the US as well as abroad and the national laboratories, and conducts research in nuclear power generation. CEAR, funded primarily by petroleum and metals industries, conducts research on nuclear systems for industrial measurements. There are also many other research programs operating outside of these centers.

Major Research Areas:

• Monte Carlo and Analytical Methods in Radiation Transport
• Parallel Processing Algorithm Development
• Industrial Computed Tomography
• Modeling of Nuclear Well Log Responses
• Investigation of Dual Radiation Gauges for Minimizing Thickness and Density Measurement Inter-ferences
• Computational Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics
• Measurements and Modeling of Two-Phase Flow Phenomena
• Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluor-escence Analysis
• Neutron Capture Prompt Gamma Ray Analysis
• Nuclear Fuel Cycle Optimization
• Signal Instrumentation and Control
• Improvement of Mechanical Properties of Nuclear Materials
• Synergistic Effects of Impurities and Radiation-Induced Defects on Ferritic Steels
• Deformation of Zircaloy
• Anisotropic Biaxial Creep of hcp Metals
• Interaction of Plasma with Solid and Liquid Materials
• Fusion reactors first-wall studies
• Disruption and abnormal events in fusion reactors
• Plasma-material interaction and divertor designs
• Accident scenarios analysis in fusion reactors
• Pellet injection and fueling of fusion reactors
• Hyper-velocity plasma launchers
• Electrothermal plasma mixing with solid and liquid propellants
• Erosion studies of plasma-driven launchers
• Coaxial plasma thrusters and helicity injection
• Plasma torches for treatment of mixed waste
• Plasma diagnostics development for plasma devices and fusion reactors
• Biological Effect of Pulsed Electromagnetic Radiation
• Computational Reactor Physics
• Sensitivity Analysis for Fusion Nucleonics
• Low-Level and High-Level Waste Management
• Loose Parts Monitoring in Power Plants
• High-energy proton/neutron spallation sources and radiation effects