{"158161":{"#nid":"158161","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Awarded $6 Million to Improve Safety of Nuclear Reactors","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology has won a $6 million federal grant to design improvements that strengthen the performance and safety of nuclear systems beyond today\u2019s capabilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe award was announced Sept. 27 by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of its Nuclear Energy University Programs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s three-year project will engage universities, industry partners and international organizations to develop a novel concept of a light water reactor with inherent safety features.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBojan Petrovic, Georgia Tech professor of nuclear and radiological engineering, will lead the research team using a \u201csafety-by-design\u201d approach to eliminate the potential for accidents, together with passive safety systems to ensure the plant\u2019s continued safe operation even under hypothetical emergency conditions. The design will also incorporate lessons learned from events at Fukushima Daiichi plant following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011. The new reactor will be designed to safely withstand such events.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis research will strengthen the technical basis to support deployment of novel reactors with inherent safety and improved economics and provide long-term energy security and independence,\u201d Petrovic said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESpecifically, the team aims to improve safety features using integral system configuration, a novel decay heat removal system, robust fuel with increased accident resilience and seismic isolators in earthquake-prone areas. Researchers will also design instrumentation and monitoring that will ensure the plant status is reliably known in normal and emergency situations, including post-accident conditions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research team includes University of Michigan, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, University of Tennessee, University of Idaho, Morehouse College, Idaho National Laboratory, Westinghouse Electric Company, Polytechnic of Milan, University of Cambridge, Southern Nuclear Company and an independent consultant.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn total, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it is investing $13 million for university-led nuclear innovation projects at Georgia Tech as well as the University of Tennessee and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The goal of the projects is to support nuclear energy research and development and student investment at universities across the country, ensuring that secure, safe and efficient nuclear energy is part of the nation\u2019s energy portfolio.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology has won a $6 million federal grant to design improvements that strengthen the performance and safety of nuclear systems beyond today\u2019s capabilities.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Bojan Petrovic, professor of nuclear and radiological engineering, will lead the research team of universities, industry partners and international organizations."}],"uid":"27462","created_gmt":"2012-10-01 13:20:44","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:54","author":"Liz Klipp","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-10-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-10-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"158171":{"id":"158171","type":"image","title":"Professor Bojan Petrovic","body":null,"created":"1449178883","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:41:23","changed":"1475894792","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:32","alt":"Professor Bojan Petrovic","file":{"fid":"195346","name":"dsc05151.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc05151_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc05151_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":8324262,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dsc05151_0.jpg?itok=0ida4CL8"}}},"media_ids":["158171"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/inlportal.inl.gov\/portal\/server.pt?mode=2\u0026objID=600\u0026open=512","title":"Nuclear Energy University Programs"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.nre.gatech.edu\/","title":"The Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Program at Georgia Tech"},{"url":"http:\/\/energy.gov\/articles\/energy-department-announces-new-investments-university-led-nuclear-energy-innovation","title":"Dept. of Energy press release"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"45131","name":"$6 million award"},{"id":"45161","name":"Bojan Petrovic"},{"id":"594","name":"college of engineering"},{"id":"45111","name":"Department of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering"},{"id":"45151","name":"inherent safety features"},{"id":"45141","name":"light water reactor"},{"id":"45121","name":"Nuclear Energy University Programs"},{"id":"28931","name":"U.S. Department of Energy"},{"id":"2378","name":"Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["klipp@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}