Mechanical Engineering Garners $2.2 million in Nuclear Energy Grants

Researchers at Ohio State’s College of Engineering have received more than $2 million in funding to help test and improve the performance of future nuclear plants.

The largest award, $1.37 million, provides funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy to develop methods to model and test the heat transfer properties of the proposed Direct Reactor Auxiliary Cooling System (DRACS). The cooling system is one of the key design features of advanced high-temperature reactors, using liquid fluoride salt as the coolant. Researchers working on the project will compile an extensive database on the thermal performance of DRACS heat exchangers to evaluate the viability of the DRACS concept.

Ohio State also received three grants from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Two of them involve training a future work force in nuclear facility design, construction and operation. The principal investigators of the $450,000 and $200,000 grants are mechanical engineering faculty members Tunc Aldemir, Raymond Cao and Richard Denning.

The third grant, valued at $180,000, will involve the installation of a nuclear power plant simulator at the university that will be used to familiarize students with nuclear power plant operations. The simulator also will be used to gather human performance data that will assist in improving human/machine interfacing in operations. A full-size duplicate of a real nuclear power plant control room, the simulator will be incorporated into two existing nuclear operations courses at Ohio State, increasing the opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience in nuclear power operations. The principal investigators for the grant are mechanical engineering faculty members Carol Smidts and Brian Hajek.

Since 2008, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has awarded Ohio State $1.17 million in grants focused on education and training, and the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy awarded Ohio State $1.5 million last year.

“Ohio State’s Nuclear Engineering Program is internationally recognized in instrumentation and control,” said Aldemir. “Both Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Department of Energy grants are awarded based on a highly competitive, peer-reviewed process. We will definitely continue to respond to future requests for proposals from both of these agencies.”

Aldemir said Ohio State’s Nuclear Engineering Program also is a world leader in nuclear reactor safety and is currently collaborating with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Sandia National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory to develop dynamic probabilistic risk assessment tools to help design safer and more reliable reactors.