Under the leadership of Dr. Ayman Hawari, Distinguished Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director of the Nuclear Reactor Program, the NC State PULSTAR reactor received an infrastructure award. This award, provided through the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), will facilitate an upgrade and enhancement to safety, operations, and utilization infrastructure.

“The installation of comprehensive and facility wide radiation protection and moisture/temperature sensor systems, environmental sample assay instrumentation upgrade, and items in support of the facility utilization infrastructure. The enhancements will also be synergistic with the operation of the PULSTAR at the upgraded power of 2-MW (anticipated during 2022) and will generally support the implementation of new capabilities at the PULSTAR (e.g., the advanced reactor experimental program). The proposed upgrades are expected to have direct impact on the PULSTAR reactor by enhancing its operational experience and to facilitate its safe utilization by various user groups including academic faculty, staff and students, and engineers and researchers nationally and internationally.”

Twenty university-led projects received more than $5.2 million for research reactor and infrastructure improvements, providing important safety, performance, and student education-related upgrades to a portion of the nation’s 25 university research reactors, as well as enhancing university research and training infrastructure.