2019 Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Award Winners

The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Office of Nuclear Technology R&D, congratulates the following winners of the 2019 Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards.

Winners of the Open Competition

Advanced Fuels
Kelly McCary
First Place
Kelly McCary
Ohio State University
Response of Distributed Fiber Optic Temperature Sensors
to High-Temperature Step Transients
William Cureton
Second Place
William Cureton
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Grain Size Effects on Irradiated CeO2, ThO2, and UO2

Advanced Reactor Systems
Vedant Mehta
First Place
Vedant Mehta
Georgia Institute of Technology
Core Analysis of Spectral Shift Operated SmAHTR
Peter Doyle
Second Place
Peter Doyle
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Modeling the Impact of Radiation-enhanced Diffusion
on Implanted Ion Profiles

Energy Policy
John Peterson
First Place
John Peterson
University of Idaho
An Overview of Methodologies for Cybersecurity Vulnerability Assessments Conducted in Nuclear Power Plants
Keoni Sanny
Second Place
Keoni Sanny
Ohio State University
Dynamic Probabilistic Risk Assessment with PyCATSHOO: The Case of the Emergency Power Supply of a Nuclear Power Plant

Material Protection, Control, and Accountancy
Allison Lim
First Place
Allison Lim
Colorado School of Mines
Plastic Scintillators with Efficient Light Output and Pulse Shape Discrimination Produced via Photoinitiated Polymerization
Neil Taylor
Second Place
Neil Taylor
Ohio State University
Isotopic Concentration of Uranium from Alpha Spectrum of Electrodeposited Source on 4H-SiC Detector at 500° C

Material Recovery and Waste Form Development
Kristen Pace
First Place
Kristen Pace
University of South Carolina
Na2(UO2)(BO3): An All-Uranium(V) Borate Synthesized
under Mild Hydrothermal Conditions
Bonnie Klamm
Second Place
Bonnie Klamm
Florida State University
Experimental and Theoretical Comparison of Transition-Metal and Actinide Tetravalent Schiff Base Coordination Complexes

Nuclear Science and Engineering
Erin Bertelsen
First Place
Erin Bertelsen
Colorado School of Mines
Microcolumn Lanthanide Separation Using Bis-(2-ethylhexyl) Phosphoric Acid Functionalized Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Materials
Sylvia Hanna
Second Place
Sylvia Hanna
Northwestern University
Guest-Dependent Single-Crystal-to-Single-Crystal Phase Transitions in a Two-Dimensional Uranyl-Based Metal-Organic Framework

Used Fuel Disposition
Christian Juillerat
First Place
Christian Juillerat
University of South Carolina
Overstepping Löwenstein's Rule - a Route to Unique Aluminophosphate Frameworks with 3D Salt-Inclusion and Ion Exchange Properties
Megan Hoover
Second Place
Megan Hoover
Clemson University
Quantum-mechanical Modeling of Divalent Cation Incorporation
into Uranium Dioxide

Winners of the Competition for Students Attending Universities with Less than $600 Million in 2017 Science and Engineering R&D Expenditures

Alexander Chemey
Alexander Chemey
Florida State University
Electronic, Magnetic, and Theoretical Characterization of (NH4)4UF8, a Simple Molecular Uranium(IV) Fluoride
David Dan
David Dan
Florida State University
Origin of Selectivity of a Triazinyl Ligand for Americium(III)
over Neodymium(III)

Cole Manring
Cole Manring
North Carolina State University
Assessment of Thermal Neutron Scattering
in a Heavy Paraffinic Molecular Material
Colby Sorrell
Colby Sorrell
North Carolina State University
TREAT M2 Experiment Modeling for Transient Benchmark Analysis

Chao Zhang
Chao Zhang
University of Utah
Electrochemical Measurement of High Concentrations
of UCl3 and GdCl3 in Molten LiCl-KCl Eutectic

Winners of the Undergraduate Competition

Daine Danielson
Daine Danielson
University of California at Davis
Directionally Accelerated Detection of a Second, Unknown Reactor with Antineutrinos for Mid-Field Nonproliferation Monitoring
Benjamin Laramee
Benjamin Laramee
North Carolina State University
Load-Following Capabilities of the BWRX-300

Kevin Liu
Kevin Liu
University of Michigan
Calibration and Statistical Performance of Al2O3∶C Optically Stimulated Luminescent Dosimeters with and without Annealing using a 137Cs Source
James Seekamp
James Seekamp
University of Michigan
Design of an Extremely Sensitive Large Volume Gamma-Ray Spectrometer for Environmental Sample Screening

Travis Smith
Travis Smith
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Temporal Fluctuations in Indoor Background Gamma Radiation Using NaI(Tl)
James Zillinger
James Zillinger
University of Idaho
Investigation of Production Parameter Effects on Spark Plasma Sintered Molybdenum Cermet Wafers for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Applications