2013 Annual Report

Annual Report 2012-2013 ]]

Nuclear Engineering337 Zachry Engineering Center

3133 TAMUCollege Station, TX 77843-3133

979.845.4161engineering.tamu.edu/nuclear ]]

Texas A&

M N

uclear Engineering

Annual R

eport

2012-2013

HistoryThe decision to enter the field of nuclear engineering was made in 1957 while Dr. John C. Calhoun was dean of engineering. Our AGN-201 nuclear training reactor was purchased and installed in the mechanical engineering shops building under the direction of Dr. Richard E. Wainerdi in 1957. In 1958, the Academic Council approved the recommendation of the Executive Committee that a Department of Nuclear Engineering be created and that graduate programs in nuclear engineering

be authorized. At that time, only two degree programs were administered: an M.S. and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering. The undergraduate program was established

in 1966.

To serve our state, our nation and our global community by nurturing future nuclear engineering professionals and leaders who are:

• instilled with the highest standards of professional and ethical behavior;

• prepared to meet the complex challenges associated with sustainably expanding peaceful uses of nuclear energy;

• enhancing global nuclear security and avoiding the dangers of nuclear proliferation.

Mission

To develop and maintain a nationally and internationally recognized program that promotes a passion for understanding and applying the knowledge of nuclear science and engineering to support the nation's alternative energy, national security and health care missions.

Vision

On the cover: The Department of Nuclear Engineering is the only program in the country with two operating reactors. The AGN-201M reactor has a 5W AGN-201M nuclear reactor that teaches fundamentals of nuclear reactor operations and interactions of neutrons with matter ,sand lets students conduct experiments on basic reactor physics parameters.

It is my pleasure to present the 2012-2013 Annual Report of the activities of our department for the past year. Great things are happening in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M. This past September, we celebrated our 55th anniversary, which was a huge success. It was such a pleasure to visit with former and current students during the three days. As the Dwight Look College of Engineering embarks on its bold initiative to increase enrollment to 25,000 students by 2025, as well as transform the educational experience, our department is experiencing growth in research and enrollment.

To this end, we seek improvement each year in providing more opportunities and support for the students, forging more partnerships in industry, national labs and government, and incorporating a stronger, more interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to our teaching and research.

I invite you to review this report and hope you are pleased by the achievements in the past year; none of it would be possible without your spirit, energy and support. Former and current students, faculty, staff, colleagues, and our partners in the industry--we give our thanks to you for these numbered achievements.

In this annual report, we highlight the achievements of our faculty and students from the past year. Some of our most significant achievements include the 25 percent growth of our undergraduate student body, and the 41 percent growth of our graduate student body, during the past seven years. The department’s research awards for fiscal year 2012 were over $12.9 million.

We’ve had some changes and advancement in our faculty this year. Dr. Lin Shao has been promoted to associate professor. Dr. Dan Reece has retired as the director of the Nuclear Science Center,

and Dr. Radek Skoda has succeeded Dr. Reece as director.

I hope you enjoy this summary of the department’s activities, and plan to be a part of what is to come. With changing times come new initiatives and new aspirations, and we hope to continue to improve upon the program that is already the largest and one of the best in the nation. With your continued interest and support, we can accomplish much. Visit us should you have the chance, and if you have any questions about our department, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Yassin A. Hassan Department Head and Sallie & Don Davis ‘61 Professor in Nuclear Engineering

Welcomefrom the Department Head

Table of Contents

Texas A&M Nuclear Engineering Department at a Glance

The Dwight Look College Of Engineering at a Glance

Our Students Around the World

Scholarships & Fellowships

Faculty Profiles

Nuclear Engineering Department News Briefs

Graduate Students:Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council and the 25 by 25 Initiative

Department Celebrates 55th Anniversary

6

910

11

12

16 & 17

18

24

26

Year 3: GNEII Graduation Ceremony and Symposium

New Mexico Nuclear Facilities Experience: WIPP and Sandia

NPI: Nuclear Energy Management School and Power Set, WIT Programs

Professor Participates in IAEA Meeting on “Deep-Burn” Concepts

Nuclear Engineering China Study Abroad

NSSPI: 7th Annual Summer School in Tomsk, Russia

NSSPI Leads Nuclear Facilities Experience in Japan

Make an Impact, Leave a Legacy

FCML Researches Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor

Distinguished Former Student Awards

ITP Completes NASA DoVER Project: Ready for 2014 Suborbital Flight

28

30

31

3233

34 & 35

36

38

3940

41

Incoming Undergraduate Students (Fall 2012)

Undergraduate StudentsB.S. Nuclear Engineering B.S. Radiological Health Engineering

Graduate StudentsM.S. Nuclear EngineeringM.S. Health PhysicsPh.D. Nuclear Engineering

(Source: TAMU OISP, Fall 2012 Semester)

U.S. News & World Report RankingsProgram rankings among public institutions

2 Undergraduate3 Graduate

million research expenditures*million research awards*Total publications

*Fiscal year 2013

White

Asian/Paci�c Islander

Hispanic

Black

Female

Male

RHEN

NUEN

White

International

Hispanic

Black

Female

Male

Ph.D. NUEN

M.S. HLPH

M.S. NUEN

Incoming Students

58 total students1259 SAT (Math + Verbal) 28.2 ACT Composite

1 National Hispanic Scholar1 National Merit Scholar

84.5 percent of incoming freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their high school class

25.9 percent of incoming freshmen were first generation college students

56 Texas residents 2 out-of state students

32325568

140751154

$10.2$12.9

138

6 2013 Annual Report

Incoming Graduate Students (Fall 2012)

Total Faculty

Tenured/Tenure-track faculty Professors Associate professors Assistant professorsSenior LecturersProfessor of PracticeResearch FacultyProfessor Emeritus

Student Organizations:

Alpha Nu Sigma Honor SocietyAmerican Nuclear SocietyHealth Physics SocietyInstitute of Nuclear Materials ManagementWomen in Nuclear

Incoming Students

35 total students 759 GRE Quantitative Average 556 GRE Verbal Average3.523 Average GPR

White

Asian/Paci�c Islander

Hispanic

Black

Female

Male

RHEN

NUEN

White

International

Hispanic

Black

Female

Male

Ph.D. NUEN

M.S. HLPH

M.S. NUEN

DomesticColorado School of Mines

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

Francis Marion University

Kansas State University

Louisiana State University

Pennsylvania State University

Texas A&M University-Kingsville

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of Florida

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

University of Texas at Austin

32

17782

2193

InternationalHacettepe University, Turkey

Kyung Hee University, South KoreaNational Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

University of Science & Technology, China

34.3 percent of incoming graduate students come from

the department’s undergraduate program

72013 Annual Report

Total

Und

ergr

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te St

uden

t Enr

ollme

ntDe

gree

s awa

rded

ov

er pa

st 4 y

ears

Total

Gra

duate

St

uden

t Enr

ollme

nt

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Total

Ph.D. NUENM.S. HLPH

M.S. NUENB.S. RHEN

B.S. NUEN

2012-20132011-20122010-20112009-2010

108

39

255244260

233208

194

4536

32

1915

24 27

7562

6961

5452

2118

5461

45343132

9876

43 4558

71 66 68

111116151320

5 72

3

011000

4

87

6871

237

10498

110

131 135140

253

291

331310

323

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Total

B.S. RHENB.S. NUEN

Fall '12Fall '11Fall '10Fall '09Fall '08Fall '07

0

30

60

90

120

150

Total

M.E. NUEN

Ph.D. NUENM.S. HLPH

M.S. NUEN

Fall ‘12Fall ‘11Fall ‘10Fall ‘09Fall ‘08Fall ‘07

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Total

Ph.D. NUENM.S. HLPH

M.S. NUENB.S. RHEN

B.S. NUEN

2012-20132011-20122010-20112009-2010

108

39

255244260

233208

194

4536

32

1915

24 27

7562

6961

5452

2118

5461

45343132

9876

43 4558

71 66 68

111116151320

5 72

3

011000

4

87

6871

237

10498

110

131 135140

253

291

331310

323

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Total

B.S. RHENB.S. NUEN


0

30

60

90

120

150

Total

M.E. NUEN

Ph.D. NUENM.S. HLPH

M.S. NUEN


0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Total

Ph.D. NUENM.S. HLPH

M.S. NUENB.S. RHEN

B.S. NUEN

2012-20132011-20122010-20112009-2010

108

39

255244260

233208

194

4536

32

1915

24 27

7562

6961

5452

2118

5461

45343132

9876

43 4558

71 66 68

111116151320

5 72

3

011000

4

87

6871

237

10498

110

131 135140

253

291

331310

323

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Total

B.S. RHENB.S. NUEN


0

30

60

90

120

150

Total

M.E. NUEN

Ph.D. NUENM.S. HLPH

M.S. NUEN



ScholarshipsRichard Vega . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adams Family ScholarshipConnor Woolum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill R. Teer ‘55 ScholarshipRyan Brito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE NEUP ScholarshipChristopher Pannier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE NEUP ScholarshipAaron Holgado . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. Gail de Planque ScholarshipMichael Krutak . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. Gail de Planque ScholarshipLily Raabe . . . . . . . . . . . Eloise Vezey Dromgoole ScholarshipDylan Singh . . . . . . . . . . Eloise Vezey Dromgoole ScholarshipKelli Humbird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold J. Giroir, Jr. ScholarshipSilas Marrs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold J. Giroir, Jr. ScholarshipLance Merchant . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold J. Giroir, Jr. ScholarshipBrandon Rosales . . . . . . . . . . . Harold J. Giroir, Jr. ScholarshipCameron Singleton . . . . . . . . . Harold J. Giroir, Jr. ScholarshipLandon Brockmeyer . . . . . . Jeff W. Simmons ‘85 ScholarshipKevin Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff W. Simmons ‘85 ScholarshipRobert Seager . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff W. Simmons ‘85 ScholarshipTimothy Crook . . . . . . . . . . . Mitty C. Plummer ‘65 Scholarship

Gabrielle Avila . . . . . . Neff-Poston Health Physics ScholarshipDaniel Custead . . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipLainy Dromgoole . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipLeigh Ann Emerson . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipAndrew Hohertz . . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipRachel Jagielski . . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipSara Loupot . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipDrew Mitchell . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipAndres Morell-Pacheco . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipJonathan Scherr . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipKaryn Stern . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipClay Strack . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipLaura Sudderth . . . . . . . . . . .Nuclear Engineering ScholarshipJoseph Perl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R.D. Neff Memorial ScholarshipMclan Amos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stinson Scholarship Ryan Brito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stinson Scholarship William Cook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stinson Scholarship

James Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DHS DNDO FellowshipZachary Kulage . . . . . . . . . . . . .DHS NE Forensics FellowshipPeter Maginot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE CS FellowshipHayes Stripling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE CS FellowshipAndrew Till . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE CS FellowshipJoshua Hansel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE NEUP FellowshipVishal Patel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE NEUP FellowshipWilliam Sames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE NEUP FellowshipCharles Stratton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE NEUP FellowshipJessica Feener . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE NNSA FellowshipClaudio Gariazzo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE NNSA FellowshipBraden Goddard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DOE NNSA FellowshipMichael Hackemack . . . . . . . . . . . MUSC Rickover FellowshipRyan Kelly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MUSC Rickover Fellowship

Robert Zedric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NNIS FellowshipRoyal Elmore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NSF FellowshipKristina Yancey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NSF FellowshipMerinda Volia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fulbright FellowshipMichael Gorman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NRC FellowshipJon Hansen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NRC FellowshipDaniel Holladay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NRC FellowshipMicheal Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NRC Fellowship Christopher Chance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . INPO Fellowship Chase Gilmore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . INPO FellowshipJames Uhlemeyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NSBRI FellowshipCheuk Lau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . National Excellence Fellowship Arnulfo Gonzalez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OGS Diversity FellowshipJose Trevino . . . . . . . OGS Pathways to Doctorate Fellowship

Fellowships

92013 Annual Report

Energy and System Design EngineeringFuel Cycles and MaterialsHealth PhysicsMedical PhysicsRadiation Transport

Security, Safeguards, Nonproliferation and PolicyThermal Hydraulics and Reactor SafetyVerification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification in Multiphysics Simulations

Facilities

&

Centers

Accelerator Laboratory AGN-201M Nuclear Reactor Laboratory Center for Large-scale Scientific Simulations (CLASS)Fuel Cycle and Materials Laboratory (FCML)Institute for National Security, Education and Research (INSER) Interphase Transport Phenomena Laboratory (ITP)Laser Diagnostics Multiphase Flow Laboratory

Micro-Beam Cell Irradiation FacilityNASA Space Power Center Nuclear Heat Transfer Systems LaboratoryNuclear Power Institute (NPI)Nuclear Science Center (1MW Triga Reactor) (NSC)Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI)Radiation Detection Measurement LaboratoryTandem Accelerator Laboratory

Resea

rch

Areas

Our Students, from Across the World

NoneUndergraduateGraduateBoth


Engineering Certificate Program

The Dwight Look College of Engineering has designed the certificate programs below to offer students the opportunity to go beyond the traditional curriculum and gain specific knowledge in a concentration area. The certificates are of great value, both to the students who pursue them and to potential employers who seek candidates who posses competencies developed from earning them.

• Energy Engineering Certificate• Engineering Project Management Certificate • Engineering Scholars Program Honors Certificate• International Engineering Certificate• Polymer Specialty Certificate • Safety Engineering Certificate• Business Management Certificate for Engineering Students

Undergraduate Research Scholars

The Undergraduate Research Scholars Program provides motivated undergraduates the opportunity to engage in mentored, in-depth research experiences. Undergraduate research scholars engage in a two-semester research experience (fall/spring academic year) conducted under the supervision of a faculty mentor that culminates in a written thesis or other scholarly project, as determined by the scholar and his or her faculty adviser. The objectives of the programs are to involve motivated undergraduates in a complex research project that emulates the “graduate student” experience and to introduce the student to the academic publication process and the scholarly community.

Dwight Look College of Engineering Enrollment,

Fall 2012 8,397 undergraduate 2,884 graduate

U.S. News & World Report national rankings

Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M(among public institutions)

6th graduate8th undergraduate

$282.3 million in engineering research expenditures(American Society for Engineering Education)

Our Students, from Across the World

112013 Annual Report

Nuclear Engineering faculty Participate in A&M Panel in Washington, D.C.

Nuclear Engineering faculty Dr. William Charlton, Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI) director; Dr. K. Lee Peddicord, Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) director; Dr. Charles Hermann, professor in the George Bush School of Government and Public Service and director of the Master’s Program in International Affairs at Texas A&M, traveled to Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2012 to participate in a panel discussion, “The Role of Research Universities in Nuclear Science, Energy and Policy.”

The panel took place at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. and was hosted by Texas A&M, the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and the Nuclear Energy Institute. The panel featured researchers from Texas A&M, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The panel discussion centered on topics including nuclear energy, international collaborations and workforce development, policy, security, and waste. Attendees included Dr. Katherine Banks, dean of the Dwight Look College of Engineering; representatives from the White House, U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department Energy, and the House Committee on

Science, Space and Technology. Read more at nsspi.tamu.edu.

Erchinger Attends International Seminar on Global Nuclear Human Resource Development

G r a d u a t e s t u d e n t J e n n i f e r Erchinger was nominated by depar tmen t faculty to attend and

participate in The Second International Seminar on Global Nuclear Human Resource Development for Safety, Security and Safeguards, Feb. 18-26, 2013 in Tokyo. She attended as a representative of students from the department and from Texas A&M.

Erchinger is currently working with NSSPI faculty member Dr. Craig Marianno and earned her master’s degree in health physics spring 2013. Her primary research focus was in the development of a specialized radiation portal that will be used to scan livestock following a radiological incident such as a nuclear power plant accident or terrorist event.

She is currently pursuing her doctorate at Texas A&M, continuing her research in nuclear emergency response issues.

Goddard Lectures at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

From April 11-18, 2013, recent Ph.D. graduate Braden Goddard, a student of NSSPI, traveled to northern India to teach classes in the nuclear engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK).

Goddard gave a series of six, 75-minute lectures, covering such topics as nuclear safeguards, Monte Carlo methods, and nuclear security science. These lectures were attended by two professors, two Ph.D. students, and eight Master of Technology (M.Tech.) students from IITK. This series of lectures was considered to be part of the class requirements for the M.Tech. students, and, as such, the M.Tech. students were also asked to pass a 30-minute oral exam to test their understanding of the concepts taught. Throughout the experience, the IITK students were able to ask questions about what life is like in the U.S. for a Ph.D. student or a post-doc. Read more at nsspi.tamu.edu.

Chirayath Co-Supervises Students at South Africa’s North-West University

NSSPI faculty member Dr. Sunil Chirayath was selected by the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at

South Africa’s North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus) to be the co-supervisor for two of their nuclear engineering graduate students.

Dr. Chirayath advised Ph.D. student Marina du Toit and M.Sc. student Sinenhlanhla Sihlangu in their research along with North-West faculty members Dr. Anthonie Cilliers and Dr. Vishnu


http://nsspi.tamu.edu/

Naicker. Toit will be conducting research on the “Development of Generation III+ PWR Thorium based Fuels” and Sihlangu on the “Neutronic Study of a Block Type HTR using MCNP5 and SCALE6.”

Miller Travels to India to Lecture on Nuclear Security

Recent Ph.D. graduate James Miller, a student of NSSPI, visited the Nuclear Energy program at Pandit Deendayahl Petroleum University (PDPU) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, to give a series of lectures on nuclear security to students in the PDPU Nuclear Energy Masters of Technology (M.Tech.) program.

The five-week course ran from March 18 to April 20, 2013, and covered topics including the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear security, physical protection, and nuclear materials accounting. The five PDPU student participants are all first-year students with backgrounds in mechanical and electrical engineering. To reciprocate the exchange, these students traveled to Texas A&M during the summer to participate in practical hands-on laboratory training in nuclear security to support the material covered in the PDPU course.

This exchange is being conducted in conjunction with Sandia National Laboratories and the U.S. Department of State within the framework of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)

between PDPU and Texas A&M that was finalized in January 2013. Texas A&M entities participating in the MOA are the Department of Nuclear Engineering, NPI, and NSSPI.

In 2010, senior Ph.D. student Adam Hetzler gave a shorter series of similar lectures at PDPU, and in 2012 a group of two PDPU students (along with Professor Shriram Paranjape, chair of the PDPU nuclear energy department), visited NSSPI to receive hands-on laboratory experience in measurement techniques to support the security of nuclear materials.

James Miller was a Ph.D. student in the Texas A&M Department of Nuclear Engineering working with NSSPI director Dr. William Charlton. His dissertation involved researching and monitoring levels of uranium and other heavy metals in radiation workers through experimental electrochemistry, work he performed during his internship with the Nuclear and Radiochemistry Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

NSSPI AggiE-Challenge Team Participates in Texas A&M Engineering Project Showcase

The AggiE-Challenge team, led by faculty advisor and NSSPI faculty member Dr. Sunil Chirayath, and graduate student adviser Evans Kitcher, was one of more than 100 teams to participate in the 2013 Texas A&M University Engineering Project Showcase April 19. The team consists of 11 junior- and senior-level undergraduate students from the nuclear engineering

and industrial and systems engineering departments.

The project, titled “Multidisciplinary Approach to Effectively Interdict Highly Enriched Uranium Smuggling,” addressed one of the grand challenges articulated by the National Academy of Engineering, “Prevention of Nuclear Terrorism.” Only a few tens of kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) are required to build a nuclear bomb, but more than one million kilograms of HEU exists in the world.

A concern is that HEU could be stolen and smuggled into the U.S., either as HEU or as a nuclear weapon, for acts of nuclear terrorism. Securing the U.S. borders against attempts to transport HEU is a national priority. Current nuclear material detection technology is inadequate for several important HEU smuggling scenarios. One of the most difficult challenges is the interdiction of shielded HEU being smuggled into the U.S. in cargo containers or border crossing vehicles.

The team was subdivided into two smaller teams focused on specific scenarios associated with this issue. Team A presented the strategic network analysis to solve the problem for the smuggling of HEU into the U.S. through


border crossings in cars and trucks, and Team B presented the strategic network analysis to solve the problem for the smuggling of HEU into the U.S. through sea ports in cargo containers. For more information, visit nsspi.tamu.edu.

New Mexico Nuclear Facilities Experience

The nuclear engineering department at Texas A&M sponsored 18 undergraduate students on a series of visits to nuclear facilities in New Mexico May 20-24, 2013.

While the main focus of the trip was for the students to experience Sandia National Labs, hosted by former student Dr. Steve Rottler ’80, the students also visited two regional nuclear fuel cycle facilities on the way. Following a successful revival in 2012 of this tradition from more than 20 years ago, the trip was highly successful and enjoyed by all participants. [Read more about this trip on page 28]

Northum Wins Radiation Research Editors’ Award

Ph.D. student Jeremy Northum received the R a d i a t i o n R e s e a r c h Editors’ Award for his publication “ F L U K A

Capabilities for Microdosimetric Analysis.” He was awarded a plaque and cash prize when he attended the 59th Radiation Research Society Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Northum received his B.S. in nuclear engineering

in 2008 and M.S. in health physics in 2010 from Texas A&M University. His research interests include radiation transport modeling and dosimetry. He has interned at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division.

Vaghetto Presents Research Results at NURETH-15 in Pisa, Italy

Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, Rodolfo Vaghetto, travelled to Pisa, Italy, to attend and present his research results at the 15th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics (NURETH-15) in Pisa, Italy.

The papers he presented were: R. Vaghetto, Y.A. Hassan, “Analysis of the Steady-State Phase of the Reactor Cavity Cooling System Experimental Facility and Comparison with RELAP5-3D Simulations,” which summarized the experimental and computational work of his Ph.D. research activity; and R. Vaghetto, D. De Luca, Y.A. Hassan, “Analysis of the Thermal-Hydraulic System Response of a Pressurized Water Reactor during Hypothetical Core Blockage Scenarios,” which described the most interesting results achieved during the research activity carried out with STP.

Vaghetto joined Dr. Yassin Hassan’s research team in 2009. He received his master’s in 2011 in experimental

activity on the natural circulation in the reactor cavity and the effect of graphite dispersion on the heat transfer mechanisms of the Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS). He continued the experimental work and computational analysis on the RCCS with his Ph.D. research, studying the capability of natural circulation of water to remove the heat from the reactor cavity of the High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor.

Former Student Joins DOE Criticality Safety Support Group

Criticality safety expert Michaele C. “Mikey” Brady-Raap ’81 from the Pacific Northwest N a t i o n a l Laboratory has been appointed a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Criticality Safety Support Group (CSSG).

Brady-Raap earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M.

She was selected for her exceptional experience and knowledge, which includes 25 years of related experience. She has provided technical and operational support of the criticality safety and nuclear engineering needs for NNSA and DOE related to waste tank storage and the transportation, storage, and disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel.

Brady-Raap has been an invited lecturer and consultant for International Atomic Energy Agency meetings and training courses. She is also a member



of several Nuclear Energy Agency organizations, including serving as chair of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety and chair of the Expert Group on Burnup Credit Criticality. She is an active participant in the American Nuclear Society’s Nuclear Criticality Safety Division, serving on its executive committee and as chair from 2002 to 2003. There she received the division’s Distinguished Service Award, recognizing her “outstanding leadership in the division governance, international studies, and division conferences.”

NSSPI Students and Faculty Take Part in Nuclear Security and Safeguards Workshop at ORNL

Six students from Texas A&M joined students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Pennsylvania State University (PSU) to participate in a hands-on workshop on nuclear security and safeguards at the Safeguards Laboratory at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Oct. 15-19, 2012. Faculty members Dr. Craig Marianno from NSSPI and Dr. Brenden Heidrich from PSU also took part in the workshop, as did two students from the Tomsk Polytechnic University in Russia who are currently interning at NSSPI.

The workshop was led by ORNL staff members, including former NSSPI student Angela Thornton Lousteau, Dr. Alexander Solodov and Claudio Gariazzo, both of NSSPI.

The five-day program included exercises and tours that helped build upon the classroom work in nuclear security being conducted at each school. Texas A&M, MIT, and PSU are currently working together to establish a sustainable Nuclear Security Curriculum through support from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) program. This is the first year that the three schools have jointly attended the Nuclear Security and Safeguards workshop, which has traditionally consisted of only Texas A&M students. While at ORNL they participated in exercises and tours that helped further the classroom education they are gaining through the GTRI program. Part of the group was supported directly by the GTRI Nuclear Security Education Program Office, while another part was supported by the Office for Material Protection, Control, and Accounting, also part of the National Nuclear Security Administration. To read more, visit nsspi.tamu.edu.

Nuclear Engineering Graduate Students Win DOE Fellowships

Three graduate students in the Department of Nuclear Engineering received fellowships through the DOE for 2013.

Josh Hansel, William Sames and Charles Stratton received the three-year fellowships through the DOE’s Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP).

DOE awarded $5 million for 39 undergraduate scholarships and 31 graduate fellowships to students in nuclear energy-related engineering and science programs at universities across the country.

Frazer Scholarship to Benefit Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M

Carol and Ross Frazer of College Station have endowed a scholarship for nuclear engineering undergraduates at Texas A&M.

Their gift will establish the Carol Fox Frazer ’77 and G. Ross Frazer ’77 Scholarship. Matching funds from Ray Rothrock of Portola Valley, Calif., will increase the endowment to $25,000. Preference will be given to applicants who participate in the Society of Women Engineers and in a cooperative education program.

“Texas A&M and its engineering school have been central to so much of what both Carol and I have been able to accomplish and enjoy,” Ross said. “We hope this effort will similarly equip future graduates and also inspire other class of 1977 engineers to do what they can.”

The Frazer’s have been longtime supporters of Texas A&M, contributing to both the Texas A&M Foundation and The Association of Former Students.



Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council

• Carol Berrigan Nuclear Energy Institute

• Rafael Flores Luminant Power

• Thomas Geer Westinghouse, Chair

• Timothy Hurst Hurst Technologies Corp.

• Dr. Regis Matzie Westinghouse-retired, Co-Chair

• Evelyn Mullen Los Alamos National Laboratory

• Dr. James Peery Sandia National Laboratory

• Tim Powell South Texas Project

• Sandra Sloan B&W mPower, Inc.

• Dr. Russell Stachowski Global Nuclear Fuel

• Ron Stinson Emeritus, Atlas Consulting Group

• Richard Wolters General Electric, retired

• Dr. Finis Southworth Areva, Inc.

• Tom Hannigan Zachry Nuclear, Inc.

• Rube Williams Jet Learning Laboratory

• G.R."Ross" Frazer ATP Oil & Gas Corp.

• Dr. J. Wesley Hines Head of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee

The mission of the Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council is to provide advice, support and counsel to the department head with the express purpose of helping to maintain the highest level of academic excellence so that its graduates remain at the forefront of the nuclear engineering professional practice in Texas and the nation.

The Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council shall accomplish this mission by working with the department head to strengthen the depth and breadth of our existing degree program specialty areas, help to foster constructive interactions with leading nuclear engineering practitioners, participate in the ABET accreditation process, and serve as a resource to the department’s faculty and students. The Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council provides advice to the department head as representatives of all department graduates as well as firms employing its graduates both in Texas and the nation.


Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp announced plans for Texas A&M University to grow engineering enrollment to 25,000 students by 2025 on January 23, 2013.

The 25 by 25 initiative was developed in response to the critical need to increase the engineering workforce of the state and the nation.

“In 2011, more than 10,000 students applied for only 1,600 undergraduate slots available in the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M, one of the top ranking public institutions for undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering,” Sharp said. “And universities from other states have set up offices to recruit our top students out of Texas. As a land grant institution, we are taking measures to provide access to a high quality engineering education for more students to keep our nation competitive in the global landscape.”

The initiative has three guiding principles:• Transform the educational experience to better prepare students to engage in and meet the future needs of the engineering

marketplace;• Increase accessibility to engineering education at all levels and;• Deliver engineering education in a cost-effective and affordable manner.

The Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M is one of the largest and highly ranked engineering programs in the nation, with more than 13,000 engineering students enrolled. Texas A&M has graduated thousands of engineers who are having an impact on the world by addressing issues of critical importance.

The demand for engineering education at Texas A&M has never been higher. The Texas Workforce Commission has projected the need for engineers entering the workforce will increase significantly during the next 12 years. Texas A&M is stepping forward to meet this critical need for our state and nation.

Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering, said the 25 by 25 initiative is not just about increasing enrollment, but also about providing better instruction and student opportunities.

“We cannot grow in the way that universities have traditionally grown, by simply spending more,” Banks said. “We are looking at a model that ultimately leverages our existing resources to deliver a high-quality education in a cost-effective manner. In addition to increasing our enrollment, we will be transforming engineering education to mold the engineer of the future.”

For more information, visit engineering.tamu.edu/25by25.


Dr. M. Katherine Banks, Ph.D., P.E., Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering

http://engineering.tamu.edu/25by25

18 2013 Annual Report -Faculty Profiles

William CharltonAssociate Professor

Director, Nuclear Security Science and Policy InstitutePh.D., Texas A&M University

[email protected]

Nuclear nonproliferation and international security, reactor physics and fuel cycle analysis, reactor experimentation and nuclear data

development

Leslie BrabySenior Lecturer

TEES Research ProfessorPh.D., Oregon State University

[email protected]

Radiation dosimetry, microdosimetry, biological effects of radiation, microbeam lab, food irradiation

Gamal AkabaniAssociate Professor

Ph.D., Texas A&M [email protected]

Medical sciences, biomedical engineering, nuclear medicine imaging, nuclear oncology, radiation Monte Carlo transport, radiation oncology, radiotherapy physics, radiobiology, PK/PD and PBPK modeling, basic

immunology, and radiopharmaceutical research

David BoyleDeputy Director, Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of [email protected]

Safety and efficiency of plutonium storage, disposition approaches

Marvin AdamsHTRI Professor of Nuclear Engineering

Director, Institute of National Security Education and ResearchPh.D., University of Michigan

[email protected]

Computational transport theory, efficient algorithms for massively parallel scientific and engineering calculations, quantification of

uncertainties in predictive science & engineering

192013 Annual ReportSunil ChirayathVisiting Assistant ProfessorTEES Research ScientistPh.D., University of Madras, [email protected]

Monte Carlo transport methods in reactor physics and radiation shielding, Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) core physics simulations, safeguards approaches and analysis for FBR fuel cycles

Stephen GueterslohAssistant ProfessorPh.D., Colorado State University [email protected]

Space weather, experimental particle physics, effectiveness of composite materials as radiation shields, radiation transport modeling, accelerator shielding design

John FordAssociate ProfessorABET CoordinatorPh.D., University of [email protected]

Response of intact tissues to ionizing radiation and a microbeam is required to determine how the response of individual cells in a tissue are modified by neighboring unirradiated cells

Yassin HassanSallie and Don Davis ‘61 ProfessorDepartment HeadPh.D., University of Illinois at [email protected]

Computational and experimental thermal hydraulics, reactor safety, fluid mechanics, two-phase flow, turbulence and laser velocimetry, imaging techniques

Ron HartProfessor EmeritusPh.D., University of California, [email protected]

Ion beam interactions, neutron transmutation doping, radiation effects


Cable KurwitzLecturer

TEES Associate Research EngineerPh.D., Texas A&M University

[email protected]

Reduced gravity thermal management, modeling of high dimensional data, data classification, and model validation, nuclear power systems

Craig MariannoVisiting Assistant Professor

TEES Research EngineerPh.D., Oregon State University

[email protected]

Nuclear counter terrorism, nuclear instrumentation development, exercise development, radiological consequence management,

environmental health physics

Ryan McClarrenAssistant Professor

Ph.D., University of [email protected]

Uncertainty quantification, numerical methods for radiation transport, multiphysics simulation, high-performance computing

Sean McDeavittAssociate Professor

Director, Fuel Cycle and Materials LaboratoryPh.D., Purdue University

[email protected]

Nuclear materials science, nuclear fuel behavior and processing, materials processing in the nuclear fuel cycle, high temperature

materials science

William MarlowProfessor

Undergraduate Program AdviserPh.D., University of Texas

[email protected]

Physics of molecular clusters and small particle interactions (aerosols), applications in materials, radioactivity and disperse materials,

environmental and health protection


Warren “Pete” MillerTEES Distinguished Research ProfessorPh.D., Northwestern [email protected]

Analysis of policy options for the storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel, nuclear fuel recycle, breeding plutonium, elimination of transuranics

Jim MorelProfessor and Associate Department HeadDirector, Center for Large-Scale Scientific SimulationsPh.D., University of New Mexico [email protected]

Monte Carlo methods and hybrid deterministic/ Monte Carlo methods, discretization and solution techniques for multiphysics/multiscale calculations

Paul NelsonProfessor Emeritus TEES Research EngineerPh.D., University of New [email protected]

Transport theory, computational methods, management of nuclear materials

Natela OstrovskayaSenior LecturerPh.D., Texas A&M [email protected]

Mathematical and computer modeling of radiation response of human tissues, predicting changes occurring in tissues following radiation insult

Kenneth PeddicordProfessorDirector, Nuclear Power InstitutePh.D., University of Illinois at [email protected]

Behavior of nuclear fuels, reactor systems and design, fissile materials disposition, MOX fuels, generation IV nuclear power systems, nuclear generated hydrogen, hydrogen economy, nuclear workforce


Dan ReeceProfessor

Ph.D., Georgia Institute of [email protected]

Radiation transport, assessment of effective dose equivalent, medical application of radioisotopes, dosimetry, uses for research reactors

Lin ShaoAssociate Professor

Ph.D., University of [email protected]

Materials science and nanotechnology, radiation effects in nuclear and electronic materials, ion beam analysis

Jean RagusaAssociate Professor

Associate Director, Institute for Scientific ComputationPh.D., Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble

[email protected]

Numerical methods for multiphysics simulations, computational techniques for neutral particle and electron transport, nuclear fuel

assembly and reactor design

Richard SchultzProfessor of Practice

Ph.D., Idaho State [email protected]

Design, scaling, specification, and conduct of thermal-hydraulic experiments, verification and validation of advanced thermal-hydraulic engineering

numerical models

John PostonProfessor

Associate Director, Nuclear Power InstitutePh.D., Georgia Institute of Technology

[email protected]

External and internal dosimetry

Some of our invited speakers....• Darius Lisowski, Ph.D. candidate,

Nuclear Engineering Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Dr. Akira Omoto, past commissioner, Japan Atomic Energy Commission

• Dr. Dennis D. Keiser, Jr., Nuclear Fuels and Materials Division, Idaho National Laboratory

• Dr. Mark Deinert, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

• Dr. Dharanipathy Rangaraj, director of radiation oncology medical physics, Scott & White

• Mr. Daud Mohamad, deputy director general, and head, department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, IAEA


Radek SkodaVisiting LecturerTEES Assistant Research Engineer Director, Nuclear Science CenterPh.D., Czech Technical [email protected]

Economics of nuclear power, nuclear research reactors, neutron detection

Pavel TsvetkovAssociate ProfessorPh.D., Texas A&M [email protected]

System analysis and optimization methods, complex engineered systems, system design, symbiotic nuclear energy systems,waste minimization, sustainability, HTGRs & cogeneration systems, direct nuclear energy conversion systems

Galina TsvetkovaLecturerSenior Research AssociatePh.D., Texas A&M University [email protected]

Reactor physics, small nuclear power and cogeneration applications, nuclear data management systems, isotope separations, molecular dynamics and separations phenomena

Karen Vierow Associate ProfessorGraduate Program Adviser Ph.D., University of [email protected]

Thermal hydraulics, multiphase flow, particularly condensation heat transfer, reactor safety, severe accident analysis, reactor design

Doctor of PhilosophyStudent Name Faculty Adviser Dissertation Title

Sangjoon Ahn Dr. Sean McDeavitt Comprehensive Investigation of the Uranium-Zirconium Alloy System: Thermophysical Properties, Phase Characterization and Ion Implantation Effects

Shaoyong Feng Dr. Les Braby Reference Radiation for Cosmic Rays in RBE Research

Angelo Frisani Dr. Yassin Hassan Direct Forcing Immersed Boundary Methods: Finite Element Versus Finite Volume Approach

Braden Goddard Dr. Bill Charlton Quantitative NDA Measurements of Advanced Reprocessing Product Materials Containing U, NP, PU, and AM

Matthew Grypp Dr. Craig Marianno An Analysis of a Spreader Bar Crane Mounted Gamma-Ray Radiation Detection System

Adam Hetzler Dr. Marvin Adams Quantification of Uncertainties Due to Opacities in a Laser-Driven Radiative-Shock Problem

Sandeep Irukuvarghula Dr. Sean McDeavitt Solid State Phase Transformations in Uranium-Zirconium Alloys

Michael Martin Dr. Lin Shao Heteroepitaxial Self-Assembling Novle Metal Nanoparticales in Monocrystalling Silicon

James Miller Dr. Bill Charlton Investigation of Trace Uranium in Biological Matrices

Christopher Myers Dr. Bill Charlton Quantitative Methodology for Assessing State-Level Nuclear Security Measures

Michael Myers Dr. Lin Shao Toward Understanding Dynamic Annealing Processes in Irradiated Ceramics

Jeremy Northum Dr. Stephen Guetersloh FLUKA Simulation of the Radiation Environment on the Surface of Mars

Tara Pandya Dr. Marvin Adams Long Characteristic Method with Piecewise Linear Sources in Space and Time on Unstructured Grids for Transport Problems

Adam Parkison Dr. Sean McDeavitt Separation of Zirconium From Uranium in U-ZR Alloys Using a Chlorination Process

Matthew Sternat Dr. Bill Charlton Development of Technical Nuclear Forensics for Spent Research Reactor Fuel

Hayes Stripling Dr. Marvin Adams Adjoint-Based Uncertainty Quantification and Sensitivity Analysis for Reactor Depletion Calculations

Bruno Turcksin Dr. Jean Ragusa Acceleration Techniques for Discrete-Ordinates Transport Methods with Highly Forward-Peaked Scattering

Hong-Chan Wei Dr. Yassin Hassan CFD Analyses of Flow Structures in Air-Ingress and Rod Bundle Problems

Master’s of Science in Health PhysicsStudent Name Faculty Adviser Thesis Title

Jennifer Erchinger Dr. Craig Marianno Investigating the Operational Capabilities of Custom and Pedestrian Portal Monitoring Systems for Screening Livestock for Radioactive Contamination

Jeremy Rogers Dr. Craig Marianno Modeling Study of Proposed Field Calibration Source Using K-40 Source and High-Z Targets for Sodium Iodide Detector

James Uhlemeyer Dr. John Ford Contour Collimation Systems to be Used for Murine Irradiation


Fall 2012 -Summer 2013Dissertations and Theses

Master’s of Science in Nuclear EngineeringStudent Name Faculty Adviser Thesis TitleBrian Barnhart Dr. Sean McDeavitt Characterization of Zr-Fe-Cu Alloys for an Inert Matrix Fuel for Nuclear Energy Applications

Bradley Beeny Dr. Karen Vierow Thermal Hydraulic Analysis of a Reduced Scale High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor Test Facility and its Prototype with MELCOR

Tianyi Chen Dr. Lin Shao A Study of UO2 Grain Boundary Structure and Thermal Resistance Change Under Irradiation Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Yuan Di Dr. Yassin Hassan Experimental Observation and Measurements of Pool Boiling Heat Transfer Using PIV, Shadowgraphy and RICM Techniques

Kevin Dugan Dr. Jean Ragusa Dynamic Adaptive Multimesh Refinement for Coupled Physics Equations Applicable to Nuclear Engineering

Daniel Eichel Dr. Sean McDeavitt Atomic Diffusion in the Uranium-50wt% Zirconium Nuclear Fuel SystemsJordan Evans Dr. Dan Reece Improving Targeted Radionuclide Therapy Using Nuclear NanotechnologyMatthew Fitzmaurice Dr. Craig Marianno Developing a Methodology for Characterizing the Effects of Building Materials’ Natural

Radiation Background on a Radiation Portal Monitoring SystemMichael Hackemack Dr. Gamal Akabani Characterization of a Stochastic Procedure for the Generation and Transport of Fission

Fragments within Nuclear FuelsJoshua Hansel Dr. Jean Ragusa Solution Techniques for Single-Phase Subchannel EquationsMatthew Johnson Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov Application of Next-Generation Sensor Systems in HTRsRyan Kelly Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov Pebble-Bed Nuclear Reactor System Physics and Fuel UtilizationAlexandra Khudoleeva Dr. Sunil Chirayath Conceptual Development of Remote Monitoring System for PWR Spent Fuel Dry Cask

Storage through Neutron and Gamma Transport SimulationsEvans Kitcher Dr. Sunil Chirayath Performance and Safety Analysis of a Generic Small Modular ReactorAkansha Kumar Dr. Jim Morel Measure of Diffusion Model Error for Thermal Radiation TransportAnnabelle Le Coq Dr. Bill Charlton Design of a Safeguards Instrument for Plutonium Quantification in an Electrochemical

Refining SystemMichael Leimon Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov Coupling Interface for Physics-to-System Simulations

Jonathan Madsen Dr. Gamal Akabani Generic Model for Molecule-based Low-Energy Electromagnetic Cross Sections in Biological Systems

Sergiy Manolov Dr. Jim Morel Hybrid Sn/Diffusion and Sn/P3 Neutronics CalculationsPatrick McDermott Dr. Karen Vierow Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Seed-Blanket Unit DUPLEX Fuel Assemblies with VIPRE-01

Eowyn Pedicini Drs. William Charlton and Craig Marianno Passive Neutron Detection in Ports for Homeland Security Applications

Jeremy Rogers Dr. Craig Marianno Modeling Study of Proposed Field Calibration Source Using K-40 Source and High-Z Targets for Sodium Iodide

Joshua Smith Dr. Jean Ragusa Enhanced Thermal Conductivity UO2-BeO Nuclear Fuel: Neutronic Performance Studies and Economic Analyses

Matthew Solom Dr. Karen Vierow Breaking the Tension: Development and Investigation of a Centrifugal Tensioned Metastable Fluid Detector System

Scott Stewart Dr. Bill Charlton Investigating Correlated Neutrons from Pulsed Photonuclear Interrogation for Treaty Verification Applications

Chad Thompson Dr. Sean McDeavitt A Rotating Electrode System for the Generation of Metal Alloy Microspheres

Huhu Wang Dr. Yassin Hassan CFD Analysis of Core Bypass Flow and Crossflow in the Prismatic Very High Temperature Gas-cooled Nuclear Reactor

Huali Wu Dr. Yassin Hassan Heat Transfer Simulation of Reactor Cavity Cooling System Experimental Facility Using Relap-3D and Generation of View Factors Using MCNP


The department welcomed more than 250 former students, current students, and guests Sept. 5-7, 2013 to celebrate the department’s 55th anniversary.

The three-day event included a special lecture on Thursday with guest speaker Michael Shellenberger, cast member of Pandora’s Promise, in which he gave an exclusive talk to the department, followed by a dinner and poster session with the advisory council.

Friday kicked off with a breakfast, warm welcome and talk of the department history, since established in 1958, by Dr. Yassin Hassan, department head, and speakers Bill Jones, former regent of the Texas A&M University System, Judge Mike Ford of Glen Rose County, Tim Powell ’81 of the South Texas Project, and Dr. Michaele “Mikey” Brady-Raap ’81 of Pacific Northwest National Lab.

Later that afternoon, after lunch with speaker Dr. Pete Miller, TEES Distinguished Research Professor, lab and reactor tours were offered. Wrapping up Friday was a screening of documentary Pandora’s Promise, in which we filled the largest audience for the viewing at the Rudder Theatre Auditorium, which seats 2,500. After Pandora’s Promise, the celebration banquet was preceeded by a cocktail hour in the Forsyth Gallery in the Memorial Student Center.

During the celebration banquet we announced the department’s 2013 Distinguished Former Students, Dr. James Peery ‘84, Powell ‘81, Rafael Flores ‘79, Ronald Stinson ‘53, and Brady-Raap ‘81.

Saturday wrapped up our celebration with our annual tailgate just outside the Association of Former Students building. We had more than 100 current and former students, faculty and staff attend.

To the left, Ray Rothrock ’77 (left), executive producer, and Robert Stone (right), director of Pandora’s Promise, look on at Dr. Waltar’s presentation during the celebration banquet.

Department of Nuclear Engineering 55 th Anniversary

Bill Jones, former regent for the

Texas A&M University System

Michael Shellenberger, activist, Pandora’s Promise cast


We would like to thank all of the former students and guests for making the trip to College Station to celebrate this very special milestone for the department. A special thanks to Ray Rothrock ’77 for facilitating the screening of Pandora’s Promise. To view more photos of the event, you can visit our Flickr site at http://bit.ly/1hPZajZ.

A very big thank you to those who donated toward the anniversary:

• David Barker ’66• Michael Blasdel ’71• William Charlton ’95• Joe Vincent Everett ’76• Tom Geer ’81• Tom Hannigan• Craig Harrington ’78• James Lee ’68• Xiuchun Luan• Warren Miller• Rebecca Onuschak ’94• Theodore Parish• Ray Rothrock ’77• Philippe Tissot ’93• Andrey Troshko ’96• Galina Tsvetkova ’03• Stephen Vrana ’82• Gangyang Zheng

Dr. Alan Waltar, former department head


http://bit.ly/1hPZajZ

http://bit.ly/1hPZajZ

The Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University sponsored 18 undergraduate students on a series of visits to nuclear facilities in New Mexico May 20-24, 2013.

While the main focus of the trip was for the students to experience Sandia National Labs, hosted by former student Dr. Steve Rottler ’80, the students also visited two regional nuclear fuel cycle facilities on the way.

"I participated in what we then called the 'senior trip' to Idaho National Engineering Laboratory in January or February of 1980. This was my first exposure to a national laboratory and it influenced me heavily in my decision to pursue a Ph.D. and my choice of an employer, though I ended up at SNL rather than INEL. Prior to that trip, I was not yet locked into going to graduate school and was not thinking about a career at a national laboratory," said Rottler, vice president, California Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories.

This year, the participants were given an additional tour of the URENCO USA Uranium Enrichment Facility of Eunice, N.M., where they witnessed the business of enriching uranium for use in nuclear power reactor fuel. URENCO USA is the first nuclear facility in 20 years to receive a construct and

operate license in the U.S. and the first to use centrifuge technology. Construction of the facility began in 2006, and authorization to operate came from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June 2010. URENCO USA has been producing enriched uranium since that time. URENCO USA continues to expand its capacity with a goal of 5.7 million tSWU/annually.

The URENCO facility explained how they were a service provider to customers who desired enriched uranium in order to eventually fabricate uranium oxide fuel for light water reactors. The URENCO facility provided various technical and logistics personnel to discuss the plant’s operations and associated nuclear material control and accounting measures for the purposes of international safeguards and responsible facility operations. Safeguards Group Manager Amy Johnson led the material control and accounting discussions for the students. The experience proved beneficial to the students by exposing a potential career path for soon-to-be graduating nuclear engineers. For the visit, the participants were split into smaller groups which toured the facility and included visits to the emergency operations center, shipper/receiver area, feed/withdrawal stations, interior of autoclaves, exterior of cascade halls, and analytical laboratories for QA/QC and MC&A.

The second facility visited by the participants was the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) of Carlsbad, N.M. WIPP staff member Abe Van Luik presented a comprehensive history of the area (reasons why area was chosen for WIPP: Guadalupe Mountains, Permian

New Mexico Nuclear Facilities Experience28 2013 Annual Report

Basin, etc.) that concluded with an informational WIPP operations video. Once all participants were fitted with appropriate safety tools (emergency mining kit, hard hat, light, brass tags), the entire group entered the conveyance together and were lowered into the salt mine.

The experience then ended at Sandia National Laboratories where the participants entered Kirtland AFB to visit Sandia’s Technical Area-V (TA-V) area. After a lab overview by David Keese, Michael Hessheimer

presented an overview of the various major environmental test facilities located there. Of those facilities, the Texas A&M group visited two: the Centrifuge Complex and the Mechanical Shock Facility. These facilities showed the Texas A&M students another area of nuclear engineering they could venture in: military applications. During a host-provided lunch, a presentation was given by Randy Gauntt on Sandia’s activities supporting the post Fukushima Dai-ichi event. This impressed many students on another area open to them as nuclear engineers (and that they’re more familiar with): post-event management. After the lunch meeting, the group was taken to another TA-V area: the Applied Nuclear Technology Facilities where the group witnessed a unique experimental nuclear capability at Sandia (the Sandia Pulsed Reactor Facility) and the Gamma Irradiation Facility. The students were then shown the (now-mothballed) Sandia Pulsed Reactor II and III for pulsing experiments (up-cycled from the LANL Godiva reactor) and the currently used SPR Critical Experiment Facility (SPRF/CX). Furthermore, the group visited the unique large gamma irradiation facility where very high level gamma radiation experiments can be done in large room-sized glove boxes (large enough for an Abrams tank to be irradiated).

"Sandia gains something of value from these visits because we are able to showcase our lab to the future talent we need to be successful in executing our mission," Rottler said. "Personally, I viewed hosting these visits and spending time with the students as yet another opportunity to give back to the nuclear engineering department and Texas A&M as a way of expressing my gratitude for all the department and university provided me — the foundation for the realization of my career aspirations. I also view supporting the students as an important part of my responsibilities as a technical professional."

Ending the day’s visit, the group transferred to the International Programs Building located off-site to visit the Technology Training and Demonstration Area: a museum-like walkthrough of SNL’s nonproliferation, safeguards, security, and arms control activities created for Congressional exhibitions. Here, students learned about weapons dismantlement activities, border and facility security activities, advanced nuclear safeguards development, cyber-security activities and biological/chemical weapon response activities at SNL. Lastly, SNL (David Keese and invited participants) hosted a panel session on potential Sandia employment that the students said they found very enlightening and informative.

The department would like to thank everyone involved in making this trip such a success: Sandia National Labs, WIPP, URENCO. A special thanks to Clint Williamson, vice president of government affairs, URENCO USA, for hosting the group at URENCO; and Roger Nelson, chief scientist, Carlsbad Field Office, DOE, for hosting the group at WIPP; and David Keese, director of Sandia’s Integrated Military Systems Center, for hosting the group at Sandia. Thanks to Dr. Kenneth Peddicord, Claudio Gariazzo, and Cory Hearnsberger for attending this trip alongside our students.


Aug. 7-18 2013, NSSPI students and staff joined students and faculty from Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk State University, and several other Russian and Ukrainian universities at the seventh annual Summer School for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy in Tomsk, Russia. The summer school gives students from both technical and policy backgrounds the opportunity to meet international peers, experience a different culture, engage in dialogue on security, safeguards, and nonproliferation related concerns, and interact with experts from various international organizations.

This year’s summer school curriculum consisted of lectures, negotiation exercises, and simulations. Topics for lectures included IAEA safeguards, international relations theories, and international organizations governing nonproliferation. The negotiation exercises and simulations were unique activities for the students to engage and work with others from different cultures and academic disciplines. For the first activity, the students were put on two teams representing fictional countries attempting to resolve an issue of trust during an inspection. The exercise covered a number of real life inspection struggles. A second, larger simulation exercise assigned groups of students to represent one of five countries, with each student playing a particular role. The goal of this exercise was to encourage the students to collaborate for determining a prescribed response to a possible Iranian nuclear program while playing a role very different than what they are accustomed to in their country. The students each represented a country different from their own, which provided them the opportunity to broaden their international understanding. On the last day of the summer school, students presented group projects on various nonproliferation topics.

On the last day of the summer school, students presented the final product of a weeklong collaboration on a variety of non-proliferation topics. Split into five groups, the students chose topics to explore and present to the rest of the participants.

While in Russia, the NSSPI delegation also traveled to the Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) to discuss continuing research and education collaboration between TPU and Texas A&M under the formal agreement signed last year between the two institutions.

This year’s summer school was organized and sponsored by Tomsk State University, Battelle Memorial Institute, and the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority.

NSSPI: Seventh

Annual Nuclear Nonproliferation Summer School


Year 3 : GNEII Graduation Ceremony and Symposium

The Gulf Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Institute (GNEII) concluded its third year with a graduation ceremony and two-day symposium on nuclear safety, security, and safeguards held at the Abu Dhabi campus of Khalifa University May 19-20, 2013. The 20 fellows who participated in the program this year represented the largest graduating class for GNEII since its inception. This year's fellows came from across the Gulf Cooperation Council states, specifically from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

The symposium was opened by Michael H. Corbin, the US Ambassador to the UAE; Dr. Kenneth Hall, Texas A&M at Qatar; Dr. David Boyle, deputy director of NSSPI, who also served as a GNEII instructor; master of ceremonies Dr. Michael Schuller, NSSPI and GNEII faculty coordinator. Representatives from the United Arab Emirates entities, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, and Critical Infrastructure and Coastal Protection Authority, Khalifa University, the U.S. Department of State, Texas A&M, and Sandia National Labs were also in attendance.

At the symposium, the GNEII fellows presented nine capstone projects, which represented the culmination of the 12-week GNEII course. These projects addressed a wide range of topics and included "Pyrochemical Reprocessing," "A Qualitative Assessment of Fuel Fabrication Options in the UAE," "An Emergency Preparedness Plan for Radioactive Materials," and "A Suitable Mobile Lab for UAE Conditions."

During the graduation ceremony, Abdelaziz Al Madhloum, GNEII manager said, "GNEII's mission is to develop a responsible nuclear energy culture and institutionalize key safety, security, safeguards and nonproliferation norms in the future decision-makers of the gulf region nuclear energy programs by providing professional development and training events like this one."

Sandia Labs and NSSPI teamed up to help establish GNEII in 2011 as a Khalifa University institute housing a regional education program offering both classroom instruction and hands-on experience in topics related to nuclear energy safety, security, safeguards and nonproliferation. Conceived as a response to the growing interest in nuclear energy among Middle Eastern nations, GNEII strives to promote a nuclear energy security and safety culture in countries in the region with nascent nuclear energy programs. The program is sponsored on the U.S. side by the International Nuclear Safeguards and Engagement Program at the U.S. Department of Energy / National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Partnership for Nuclear Security, which is a program of the U.S. Department of State's Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction. NSSPI has worked with Sandia National Laboratories to develop the curriculum and supply the instructors for the modules.

Ambassador Michael H. Corbin, U.S. Ambassador to the UAE


Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov, associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, participated in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Technical Meeting on Development of “Deep-Burn” Concepts Using High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) Coated Particle Fuel for Incineration of Nuclear Waste, Surplus Fissile Materials and Plutonium without Recourse to Multiple Processing. The meeting was held at IAEA Headquarters in Vienna Aug. 5-7, 2013. The purpose of this meeting was to explore various Deep-Burn options and concepts being developed in Member States and to appraise the progress made towards the maturity of deep-burn concepts based on HTGR designs. Tsvetkov reported on studies he conducts with his

students on deep-burn high-temperature reactor focusing on transuranic material (TRU) utilization and nuclear waste management.

“Nuclear power carries known advantages and challenges. We envision that development and deployment of deep-burn systems will allow synergistically balancing those while addressing the concerns,” Tsvetkov said.

The decade-long efforts to develop and assess perspectives of a deep-burn high temperature reactor (DB-HTR) in Tsvetkov’s group started in 2004 and have been supported via a series of federally funded projects focused on TRU utilization and nuclear waste management scenarios via specially designed HTRs. The decade-long program is focused on fuel utilization, in-core management and optimization recognizing the unique ability of HTRs with prismatic cores to be loaded and reloaded in 3-D. The work further evolved and expanded toward advanced sensors, 3-D mapping, and fission product management. A significant portion of research and development is dedicated to validation efforts.

Professor Participates in IAEA Meeting on “Deep-Burn” Concepts


Over the 2013 summer, Texas A&M nuclear engineering undergraduate students were presented with an extraordinary opportunity to spend 17 days in China studying alongside students from Harbin Engineering University (HEU). The summer school had 16 Texas A&M and 20 HEU students and faculty participate. It was jointly organized by the Department of Nuclear Engineering and the School of Nuclear Science and Technology at HEU. This is the second year that the program took place, after a successful first school was organized in 2012. This program includes six days of lecture at HEU and 11 days of travel to visit nuclear power plants under construction.

At Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant near Dalian, students toured the CPR1000 power plant unit (French design) and were graciously given the opportunity to look inside the containment building and the steam turbine room. In Beijing, students learned about the first Chinese nuclear power plant design, the ACP1000. At Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant, students learned about the AP1000 Westinghouse PWR design. At Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant, student visited various training centers including the one for spent fuel loading. The trip provides insights into the growing Chinese nuclear energy program and provides a better understanding of nuclear safety. The ability to see concepts in the classroom being implemented in the field greatly enhances the students’ understanding.

Nuclear Engineering China Study Abroad


The Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) at Texas A&M, along with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), hosted a three-week Nuclear Energy Management School (NEMS) for young professionals working in nuclear energy and related fields. NPI is a center in the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). The NEMS included participants from 11 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. The school features lecturers from the United States government, U.S. industry, the IAEA and other international experts in nuclear-related fields.

“We are delighted to have hosted the Nuclear Management School for the first time it has been held in the Western Hemisphere,” said Dr. Kenneth L. Peddicord, NPI director. “This is an excellent collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria. “This activity has a significant impact, especially for ‘newcomer’ countries that are considering the use of nuclear energy for the first time. This school is important in highlighting the strategies to use nuclear power in a safe and effective way. We are pleased to be able to share our experiences here in the U.S. and in Texas.”

The purpose of the NEMS is to provide a unique international educational experience aimed at building future leadership to manage and support nuclear energy programs and projects in the nuclear energy field. It targets professionals with managerial potential who show promise as future leaders in the nuclear industry, academia, government agencies and public sector entities in the country. Participants are able to share and transfer knowledge from internationally recognized experts in a wide range of activities critical to a sustainable nuclear energy program.

The NEMS consists of a series of keynote presentations and discussions on topics relevant to managing nuclear energy programs, case studies, practical sessions, group projects and visits to nuclear facilities.

Subject matter covered included:

Participants also had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta to meet with representatives of the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations and the World Association of Nuclear Operators. They visited the nuclear power plant construction site of Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Waynesboro, Georgia.

To the left, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy of the Department of Energy Dr. Pete Lyons (front right), with some of the NEMS participants.

For more on NPI visit: http://nuclearpowerinstitute.org.

NPI Hosts Nuclear Energy Management School

• World energy balance and geopolitics• Energy planning, energy economics and nuclear power

economics and finance• Nuclear industry, from planning to decommissioning• Nuclear safety and security• Nuclear law, international conventions and relevant

mechanisms

• Nuclear nonproliferation regime, safeguards and related international arrangements

• Human-resources development and knowledge management• Leadership and management in the nuclear industry• Networking and stakeholders• Outreach to communities, schools and students.


http://nuclearpowerinstitute.org

During the 2012-2013 academic year, the Powerful Opportunities for Women Eager and Ready for Science, Engineering, and Technology (POWER SET) and Workforce Industry Training (WIT) programs made pivotal use of partnerships with 10 targeted independent school districts, serving 227 high school POWER SET and another 227 WIT students. Many POWER SET and WIT activities have been developed including campus visits, industry site visits, educational field trips, and mentoring programs. These relationships and activities are crucial to the recruitment of students to address the mission of increasing the number of students in STEM programs.

Specific activities varied depending on each school district’s focus. However, all consisted of visits to STEM college/university departments for tours, demonstrations, attending faculty lectures on relevant topics, and participating in activities with STEM-oriented industries and professionals that encompass career fairs, job shadowing, and mentoring. The success and outcomes of the POWER SET and WIT programs were extremely pleasing. After students participated in these programs, an average of 83 percent self-report that they will pursue STEM educations and career paths.

The programs have received a tremendous amount of positive attention and support from industry and state, federal, and international agencies. POWER SET and WIT participants give back by mentoring fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students. We have named these POWER SET and WIT mentoring components “Power GRID” (Girls Responding to Industry Demands) and “BRT” (Boys Resourcing Technology). Last school year, 298 elementary/middle school students participated in Power GRID and BRT with the goal of providing POWER SET and WIT members the opportunity to utilize their new-found motivation, knowledge, and academic enthusiasm in motivating pre-teen students to cultivate leadership skills, boost character development, and encourage STEM-subject acceleration.

As anticipated, the 2013-2014 school year is off to a great start with the same goals and objectives including an additional high school for a total of 11 school districts benefiting from our efforts.

NPI Programs POWER SET and WIT Impactful


The Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI) at Texas A&M University recently conducted the 2013 Nuclear Facilities Experience (NFE) in Japan.

The event was coordinated with the Integrated Support Center for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Nuclear Security (ISCN) of the Japan Atomic Energy Authority.

The NSSPI is a center in the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station.

Participants in the NFE included students and professors from Texas A&M, the Tomsk Polytechnic University of Russia, and the Hanoi University of Science of the Vietnamese National University. Dr. William Charlton, NSSPI director and an associate professor in Texas A&M’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, and NSSPI associate research engineer Claudio Gariazzo led the group on tours of facilities and historically significant sites throughout Japan.

The NFE served as a unique opportunity for university students to visit nuclear fuel cycle facilities in Japan and discuss applied safeguards and security measures with actual practitioners and facility operators. The first day's activities included visiting the historically significant Hiroshima Peace Park and the Peace Memorial Museum as well as hearing 84-year-old Keijiro Matsushima's account of the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing of Hiroshima. Participants said it was a truly inspiring moment for all in attendance and properly conveyed the importance and gravity of the nuclear nonproliferation problem the world faces

today.

The technical visits began at the MONJU fast breeder reactor R&D Center and the FUGEN Decommissioning Center on the Tsuruga peninsula where NFE participants met with facility operators and material control and accounting practitioners of both facilities and toured various areas open only for the NFE. The MONJU visit was to learn the unique implementation of the safeguards system for sodium-cooled FBR and convey the safety challenges of a sodium-based coolant system. The visit to FUGEN was focused on the plutonium nondestructive assay system being installed and to understand the

NSSPI Leads Nuclear Facilities Experience in Japan


requirements of applied safeguards and safety measures for decommissioning an advanced thermal reactor facility.

Participants also visited the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and met with the applied safeguards specialists. Tours included visits to the fresh and spent fuel ponds as well as the containment vessel.

The group visited the host organization, ISCN, and other facilities at the site, namely the Plutonium Fuel Production Facility (PFPF) and the Tokai Reprocessing Plant (TRP). While at the ISCN, participants witnessed current research and development activities in physical security and met with the director of the center, Masao Senzaki (board member, Institute of Nuclear Materials Management-Japan). Charlton presented Senzaki with a plaque thanking the ISCN for its substantial contributions to the NFE and nuclear safeguards/security education.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspector Georges Duhamel presented work completed by the IAEA on implementing safeguards to the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP accident and how the agency plans to meet the needs of long-term accounting of melted spent reactor fuel. The PFPF and TRP visits aimed to educate the NFE participants on the safeguards implementation on a mixed-oxide fuel-production facility and a reprocessing facility.

Students and professors at the Tokyo Institute of Technology hosted the NFE participants for a cultural excursion and a lunch. During this activity, students representing the United States, Russia, Vietnam, Japan, China, and France interacted and held lively discussions from their own perspectives on nuclear energy, nonproliferation, global politics, sports, and cuisine.

On the final day of the event the NFE participants visited the Rokkasho Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Vitrification Storage Facility, and the Reprocessing Plant. Here students were able to step through the entire reprocessing process as well as discuss the applied nuclear security and safeguards measures with the facility practitioners.

“The Nuclear Facilities Experience aims to convey the importance and complexity of applied nuclear material safeguards measures at nuclear fuel cycle facilities,” Gariazzo said. “This year, we expanded the international exchange by including students and faculty not only from Texas A&M, but from Tomsk Polytechnic University in Russia, Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, and the Hanoi University of Science in Vietnam. This activity would not have been possible without the assistance and coordination of staff at the Integrated Support Center for Nuclear Nonproliferation at Japan Atomic Energy Agency and the substantial support from the NNSA’s International Nuclear Safeguards and Engagement Program Office.”


FCML Researches Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor

One of the six primary classes of Generation IV reactors currently being researched is the Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR). There are numerous promising design features which may be achievable using SFR’s, including increased utilization of fissionable fuel content, breeding of further fissile fuel content, high-neutronic efficiency, more efficient burning of undesirable radioactive waste in-reactor, and the elimination of water-cladding interactions which may pose safety concerns for water-cooled reactor designs. Some of these benefits, most notably the conversion of fertile isotopes to fissile isotopes and the reduction in overall radioactive waste, are most realized for extended fuel lifetimes, in which fertile to fissile breeding processes will eventually dominate reactor performance and the inventories of many radioactive fission products in the fuel will have effectively plateaued. Thus, the extension of fuel lifetimes for SFR designs to periods on the order of 10 to 40 years will have a strong impact on the overall desirability of the designs. However, the current knowledge base for fuel performance on which future SFR designs are based is limited to significantly shorter fuel lifetimes, on the order of one to two years. Because of these factors, one of the great challenges in designing advanced SFR’s lies in addressing how fuel performance and integrity can be assured over fuel lifetimes much longer than those previously used.

In the Fuel Cycle and Materials Laboratory (FCML) at Texas A&M, research is currently under way to address one of the primary challenges facing advanced SFR fuel: fuel-cladding chemical interactions (FCCI). As fission products accumulate and migrate within nuclear fuel, some react with cladding materials around the fuel. These interactions lead to the formation of intermetallics, which tend to crack under stress. With time, FCCI have the potential to weaken cladding to the point that it breaks open, releasing radioactive material into the coolant and contaminating the remainder of the reactor core and coolant loops.

Under the direction of Dr. Sean McDeavitt, Grant Helmreich, Ph.D. student, and Carissa Helmreich, TEES Research Engineering Associate, are conducting a massive diffusion couple study aimed at obtaining a better understanding of the science behind FCCI and possible methods to prevent these interactions. By testing a variety of representative cladding materials in contact with corrosive fission products, the researchers are determining what factors control the rate of degradation. In addition, by testing the effectiveness of a wide range of diffusion barriers in preventing interactions between fuel, corrosive fission products, and cladding materials, the researchers are ascertaining the effectiveness with which FCCI may be prevented and determining which materials are most suited as potential fuel liners.

The figure to the left is a backscatter electron image of the diffusion zone formed between HT-9 cladding and neodymium, which is one of the most corrosive fission products.


NASA DoVER Project: 2014 Suborbital Flight Planned

Ground demonstration of a variable heat rejection radiator technology was carried out by the Interphase Transport Phenomena Laboratory (ITP) at Texas A&M. Variable heat rejection is a critical technology identified by NASA, U.S. Department of Defense and commercial space organizations in support of the next generation of space missions, including NEO precursor robotic and crew-to-LEO missions. The ability to change the heat rejection capability for the radiator provides mission flexibility important for operationally responsive space (U.S. Air Force) and enhances interplanetary or near-earth object missions (NASA). As missions became more ambitious, the turn-down or ability to handle high-energy rejection to low-energy rejection has increased. This phenomenon is driven by large swings in the effective sink temperature as well as varying thermal rejection requirements of the mission. The figure to the right represents three different heat rejection modes of the radiator. The red lines indicate hot liquid moving through the radiator while green indicates a noncondensible gas that shuts off a portion of the heat rejection area.

As shown conceptually in the figure below, the technology utilizes a vortex-type separator developed at Texas A&M and a passive jet pump to exchange working fluid in the radiator segments/lines with a noncondensable gas located in the phase separator. Warm liquid shown in red enters the radiator and is cooled with the cool liquid shown in blue returning to the pump and phase separator. Noncondensable gas, shown in green, can be used to displace liquid in the radiator to the separator/accumulator based on the orientation of three-way latch valves located at the entrance and exit of either a single radiator line or a manifold of lines. The image to the right shows the reduction in thermal rejection as fewer radiator segments are being utilized. The reduction in active radiator area allows for variable heat rejection and nearly infinite turn-down capability.

The recent activities at Texas A&M build on over 25 years of experience of the ITP laboratory in thermal management and are in support of suborbital flight testing that will take place in 2014.

Digital+Radiator+Development+


Make an Impact, Leave a LegacyEducation is a gift that keeps giving throughout one’s life, long after college is over.

The Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M has graduated more nuclear engineers since the early 1960s than has any other school in the country. More important than just the number of graduates is the quality of those graduates.

We go above and beyond to recognize the potential in students, and provide them with an education to be proud of. We continuously strive to inspire our students, faculty, and staff to be the best that they can be.

We stand by our vision: to develop and maintain a nationally and internationally recognized program that promotes a passion for understanding and applying the knowledge of nuclear science and engineering to support the nation’s alternative energy, national security and healthcare missions.

Our program is constantly evolving, and is focused on developing and strengthening every facet required to raise student achievement in and out of college. We aspire to be better, to improve year by year, and for that we require your support. The search for the best students is tougher than ever. As we continue our tradition of producing the high-quality nuclear engineers that the industry needs, a key factor is the ability to attract the most academically capable students.

Some of the best and brightest high school students cannot afford today’s tuition, and scholarships open up a world of possibilities to them. For others, a scholarship frees them from student jobs, giving them more time to follow their intellectual curiosity or to participate in Texas A&M’s character-building, student-led organizations.

There are many opportunities available for empowering the students of the department. Scholarships drive the spirit and guide the minds of generations of Aggies, so they can affect the world in productive and inventive ways. When you fund a scholarship, you’re making a profound difference for individual students and for the lives those students touch as graduates of Texas A&M.

Contact Derek Dictson, Director of Development, to make a difference in a student’s life. phone: 979.845.5113

email: [email protected]


Distinguished Former Students

The department awarded two distinguished former student awards in 2012, one to Tom Geer ’81 for his continued support and involvement with the department, and the other to Sandra Sloan ’88 for outstanding early achievement.

Tom Geer is engineering and licensing vice president for Westinghouse Nuclear Power Plants. In this position, he oversees global licensing efforts and provides the engineering interface for Westinghouse AP1000® reactor and Small Modular Reactor projects. Geer has more than 30 years of management and engineering experience. Before his current position, he was fuel engineering vice president for Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel, where he was responsible for global PWR and BWR fuel hardware design, development and testing, as well as the technology development functions supporting nuclear physics, thermal hydraulic and fuel-performance methods for PWR and BWR fuel and reload core designs. Before joining Westinghouse in 2010, Geer served as nuclear engineering vice president for Duke Energy. Geer also spent eight years supporting the prime contractor on two different U.S. Department of Energy projects while assigned to Duke Engineering.

Geer chairs the Texas A&M Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council and serves on the North Carolina State Nuclear Engineering Department advisory board. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M. He also received technical nuclear certification at McGuire Nuclear Station and completed senior nuclear plant manager training through the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. Geer is a registered professional engineer in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Sandra Sloan joined the Idaho National Laboratory after graduation, where she worked in positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of thermal hydraulics and safety analysis. She then joined Siemens Power Corporation in Richland. Wash., which later was acquired by AREVA. While with AREVA, Ms. Sloan led the licensing activities for the U.S. European Pressurized Reactor, as manager of regulatory affairs for new plants. She is a recognized expert in the area of new plant licensing. Sloan is currently the manager of design integration and licensing at Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) mPower, overseeing a broad range of activities including process and procedure development, training, safety conscious work environment, design change control, human factors engineering, and operations integration, as well as licensing.

She is active in the American Nuclear Society (ANS), and is the immediate past chair of the ANS Operations and Power Division and a current member of the ANS Finance Committee. Sloan received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M. Sloan currently serves on the department advisory council.


Annual Report 2012-2013 ]]

Nuclear Engineering337 Zachry Engineering Center

3133 TAMUCollege Station, TX 77843-3133

979.845.4161engineering.tamu.edu/nuclear ]]

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2013 Annual Report

Documents

Transcript of 2013 Annual Report