NPRE researchers share in a $538,000 Department of Energy grant to study materials that can withstand very high temperatures and resist corrosion in nuclear reactors.
Department Head Jim Stubbins, principal investigator in the project, said such
materials would allow for more efficient energy use and would offer protection from leaks. "The idea that we propose is to develop material that could go to very high temperatures for energy in general, but nuclear energy in particular, without corrosion," he said.
Stubbins said higher temperatures result in more energy efficiency. "They'll last much longer and run at higher temperatures to efficiently convert steam to electricity. In most cases, two-thirds of the energy is lost in the conversion process," he said.
NPRE Associate Prof. Brent Heuser joins Stubbins in the project. Other collaborators are Petros Sofronis and Huseyin Sehitoglu from Mechanical Science and Engineering; Ian Robertson from Materials Science and Engineering; and Andy Gewirth from Chemistry.
The U.S. Department of Energy research grant is focused on developing cutting-edge nuclear energy technologies and training and educating the next generation of leaders in the U.S. nuclear industry.