Department of Energy Announces $5.8 Million for Research on Nuclear Data Benefitting Nuclear Science and Applications

Projects include benchmark experiments benefiting applications such as energy and space exploration, and curation of new and legacy data for future use

September 15, 2023

The following news release announcing funding for research on nuclear data was issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science. Elizabeth Ricard-McCutchan, a physicist at the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, will lead one of five projects selected for funding. That project, titled “Accelerated Decay Data Evaluation and Development of an Adopted Decay Data Library,” will make nuclear data more accessible for use in applications such as nuclear medicine, nuclear power, homeland security, and fusion technologies. Two other NNDC/Brookhaven scientists will serve as co-investigators on three additional projects, two of which will enhance nuclear safeguards while simultaneously enabling the use of a powerful tool for planetary science. For more information about the Brookhaven Lab projects, contact: Karen McNulty Walsh, kmcnulty@bnl.gov, (631) 344-8350.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $5.8 million in funding for five projects in nuclear data for basic nuclear science and applications.

The projects funded by the Office of Science will improve nuclear data benchmarks across a variety of applications such as basic nuclear science, energy, and space exploration, as well as improved methods for curation of new and legacy data collected at experimental facilities. This funding opportunity announcement includes topics of interest from the interagency community, including other DOE offices.

“Nuclear data is important in both basic nuclear science and applications,” said Timothy Hallman, DOE Associate Director of Science for Nuclear Physics. “Improved benchmark data provides critical information that can be used to enhance designs for applications, making them safer, more efficient, and more cost effective. Improvements in data curation is a core function of the U.S. Nuclear Data Program which, as an Office of Science Public Reusable Research (PuRe) data resource, responds to approximately ten million requests annually for nuclear data for users in basic science and applications.” 

Projects include research related to impacts of improved nuclear data for nuclear reactors, improved reaction data on elements critical for basic science and space exploration, and improved decay data evaluation and curation for new and legacy data.

The projects were selected by competitive peer review under the DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement for the Nuclear Data InterAgency Working Group (NDIAWG) Research Program (SC-FOA-0002952).

Total funding is $5.8 million for projects lasting up to 3 years in duration, with $2.8 million in Fiscal Year 2023 dollars and outyear funding contingent on congressional appropriations. The list of projects and more information can be found on the Nuclear Physics homepage.

Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time. 

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