NSELNuclear Science and Engineering Laboratory

Nanoscale Science

Nano-BioInterface

SustainableEnergy

RenewableMaterials

SustainableWater

Cognition andCommunication

NationalSecurity

EmergingTechnologies

ICTAS Research Thrust Areas

NSEL is a unique research laboratory strategically located within a regional triangle of the Virginia Tech Research Center (VTRC) at Arlington, the Virginia Tech Campus in Blacksburg, and the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research (CAER), an industry-based research hub in New London, Virginia. Under the auspices of the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, NSEL facilitates collaboration among its members and government agencies, industrial organizations, and educational institutions. It draws the expertise of faculty members from different disciplines and promotes nuclear education by offering workshops, courses, and seminars. NSEL’s activities include:

• Attracting government and private funding for fundamental and applied research;

• Innovating new tools and devices, and advanced computational and visualization tools for application in nuclear power, nuclear security, nonproliferation and safeguards, and radiation diagnosis and therapy;

• Engaging in science-based analysis for formulation of nuclear policy; and

• Facilitating international collaborations with academic institutions and industrial organizations.

VisionTo enable the Virginia Tech Nuclear Engineering Program to take a leading role in nuclear education and research in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the global society.

Technical Approach To accomplish its mission, NSEL will engage in:

• Developing high-performance computational algorithms and codes for modeling, simulation, and virtual visualization of real-world systems;

• Establishing supporting laboratories for verification and validation of computational tools;

• Developing innovative devices for application in nuclear power, nuclear security and safeguards, and radiation diagnosis and therapy; and

• Contributing science-based analysis and support for the formulation of a national nuclear policy and for international nuclear agreements.

VT, BlacksburgVTRC, Arlington

CAER, New London

INSTITUTE FOR CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLIED SCIENCE • VIRGINIA TECH • www.ictas .v t .edu

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INSTITUTE FOR CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLIED SCIENCE

Mission In coordination with the Virginia Tech Nuclear Engineering Program, NSEL will provide education and research opportunities and will help address critical issues affecting the promotion and application of nuclear technology. Specifically, NSEL will address the following:

• Develop Human Capital – In addition to academic degrees, NSEL will provide continuing education for personnel from government agencies and industrial organizations, and will engage technical and nontechnical audiences through workshops, special courses, and graduate certificates. NSEL will foster basic education about nuclear concepts, and benefits and discussion of issues facing the industry.

• Attract Government and Private Funding – For research and development, NSEL will establish centers and organize collaborative workshops and confer-ences addressing emerging national and international topics.

• Pursue Research and Innovation - NSEL research focus areas include development of advanced high-performance computational methodologies, algorithms and visualization tools, design of innovative detection devices and materials, and establishment and utilization of benchmarking and testing environments and laboratories. In the nuclear energy area, NSEL is engaged in reactor neutronics, thermal hydraulics, materials modeling and development, fuel cycle and waste management, digital monitoring, protection and control systems for the electric power industry including transmission, generation and distribution, and robust integration of nuclear power to the electric grid. In the nuclear security, nonproliferation, and safeguards areas, ongoing activities include methodologies/com-putational tools and devices for inspection of nuclear systems and identification of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM). In the radiation therapy and diagnostic areas, NSEL capabilities include developing algorithms for improving imaging systems with high-resolution and reduced radiation effects, and techniques for developing radiation systems for improved focusing capability of the radiation therapy devices.

• Support and Analyze Formulation of Nuclear Energy Policy – NSEL will engage in science-based analysis of a secure and sustainable fuel cycle (front-end to back-end) by addressing national and international issues (nuclear commerce, nonproliferation, and diverse stakeholders), and recent events (e.g., Fukushima accident has brought urgency to the handling of temporary and long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel and to the need for more effective public educa-tion and post-accident communications). Recognizing the need for interdisciplinary learning, as well as for effective risk communication that successfully engages the public in decision-making and accident mitigation processes, NSEL will collaborate with Virginia Tech’s Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies (www.sts.vt.edu/nvc).

• Foster International Collaboration – Establish research and educational initiatives with academic institutions and industrial organizations. In particular, under the ICTAS Energy Thrust area and recent nuclear science and engineering agreements between the US and India, NSEL will utilize the VT-India campus in Swarnabhoomi, India, to engage in collaborative nuclear science and engineering education and research.

Top: Simulation of a SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography)-3D image of a heart phantom, generated by TITAN code system.

Bottom: A: Thermal neutron distribution within a cargo container. B: Gamma adjoint function distribution for a gamma detector. This representation depicts a computational tool for active interrogation.

A B

VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY

Anchor Faculty Members of NSEL Alireza Haghighat (haghighat@vt.edu), Director of NSEL, Professor of Nuclear Engineering Program, Mechanical Engineering Depart-ment, Director of the Virginia Tech Transport Theory Group (VT3G), Fellow of the American Nuclear Society, Chairman of the Board of SUNRISE (Southeast Universities Nuclear Reactors Institute for Science and Education), a not-for-profit organization.

Over the past 25 years, Prof. Haghighat, his students, and collaborators have been involved in the development of new computational methodologies and large computer codes for modeling and simulating nuclear systems including reactors, nuclear security and safeguards systems, and medical devices. Additionally, Prof. Haghighat led projects on designing and licensing fully digital protection and control systems and fuel conversion (HEU to LEU) for a research reactor. He has published over 220 papers, received several best paper awards, and

presented numerous invited workshops, seminars, and papers nationally and internationally. For further detail on Prof. Haghighat’s leadership and scientific accomplish-ments, visit http://nsel.ictas.vt.edu; http://www.me.vt.edu.

Diana Farkas (diana@vt.edu), Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Fellow of the Materials Research Society and of the ASM In-ternational, and member of the Materials Information Society. Prof. Farkas is director of the Atomistic Simulation Laboratory. She has been Visiting Professor and Visiting Scientist at different universities and laboratories in the US and beyond. She is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and the Jefferson Science Fellowship, and has worked at the Department of State on issues of International Scientific and Techni-cal Cooperation. Prof. Farkas and her group have worked on advanced high-performance computer simulation of materials properties and behavior for over 25 years. They have developed simulation techniques for application to nuclear materials and for designing materials with improved radiation resistance, for example, the study of cracking behavior in Zr alloys used in fuel cladding and the development of new nanofoam materials with increased resistance to radiation damage. The techniques utilize molecular dynamics and many body interatomic

potentials to simulate materials response at the atomic scale in multimillion atom virtual samples. She has published over 200 papers and presented numerous invited papers at national and international scientific meetings. For further detail on Prof. Farkas’ leadership and scientific accomplishments, visit http://nsel.ictas.vt.edu.

Satish Kulkarni (svk1212@vt.edu), Director of Energy Initiatives, ICTAS/OVPR, Research Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics. Dr. Kulkarni leads activities in nuclear policy and establishment of national and international collaborations. He teaches a graduate course titled “Science & Technology and Policy: Their Interplay.” As Counselor for Science, Technology, Environment, and Health Affairs at the US embassy in New Delhi, India, he played a key role in facilitating dialog between US and Indian nuclear scientists and engineers. Earlier, Dr. Kulkarni served in various leadership positions at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab. He played an important role in launching the Joint Los Alamos/ Livermore Integrated Plutonium Strategy, and as Division Leader of the New Technologies Engineering Division, he transformed the division from its nuclear testing focus to a multiprogram role in homeland security, nonproliferation, energy and environment, and biosciences. Dr. Kulkarni has authored many journal papers and reports covering a wide range of topics including composite materials,

mechanical energy storage, nondestructive evaluation, and synchrotron radiation. He has cochaired ASME/ASTM conferences and is the coeditor of three ASME and ASTM publications on advanced materials development, fracture, and fatigue. Recently, he was inducted into the Academy of Engineering Excellence at VT for “meritorious lifetime achievements and contributions to the engineering profession”and was appointed to the College of Engineering Advisory Board.

Visualization of radiation cascades inside the ligaments of a metallic nanofoam material.

The fusion star generated by an experimental fusion device built as part of a senior design project (from left Trey Gebhart, faculty advisor Dr. Mark Pierson, and Lee Hall).

Kenneth BallL. S. Randolph ProfessorHead, Mechanical Engineering (ME)High-performance computational fluid dynamics, homeland security and counter terrorism (e.g., dispersion of contaminant, disposition of special nuclear materials).ball@vt.edu

Francine BattagliaAssociate Professor, MEBuilding energy utilization and renewable/alternative energy production, computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer, high-performance computing, and multiscale phenomena.fbattaglia@vt.edu

Eugene BrownProfessor, MEHeat transfer in nanofluids, molecular dynamics, the Virginia demonstration project K-12 engineering outreach activities.efbrown@vt.edu

David ClarkProfessor and Head, Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)Nuclear waste materials, environmental degradation of glass and ceramics, microwave processing, materials engineering, ceramics, Sol-gel processing, coatings, glass, ceramic superconductor, Sol-gel fibers, and self-propagating high-temperature synthesis.dclark@mse.vt.edu

Jaime De La Rees Lopez Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Power engineering.jreelope@vt.edu

John C. Duke, Jr.Professor, Engineering Science and MechanicsDamage science and mechanics, nondestructive methods for tracking damage development, experimental mechanics, materials behavior, micromechanical materials characterization, evaluation of advanced materials and bonded joints, civil infrastructure assessment, and nondestructive evaluation.jcduke@vt.edu

Robert HendricksProfessor and Associate Head, MSE; Director of VT FIRE ProjectPhysical metallurgy and modeling metal casting, structure-property relations in metals, physical metallurgy, electronic materials, semiconductor processing and characterization, and X-ray and neutron diffraction.robert.hendricks@mse.vt.edu

Celine HinAssistant Professor, NE and MSENuclear materials.celhin@vt.edu

Roop MahajanICTAS Director and Lewis A. Hester Chair in EngineeringThermal management, nanotechnology, and convective flows.mahajanr@vt.edu

Mark PiersonAssociate Professor, NEFuel cycle, nuclear security and safeguards, operations, radiation measurement, and reactor physics.mark.pierson@vt.edu

Sonja SchmidAssistant Professor, Science and Technology (S&T) Studies Nuclear security and safeguards, S&T policy, and energy policy in international perspective.sschmid@vt.edu

Danesh TaftiProfessor, MEDirector of High-Performance Computational Fluid Thermal Science and Engineering GroupFluid heat transfer enhancement surfaces for heat exchangers, turbine blade and combustor cooling, thermal hydraulics of nuclear systems, multiphase flows, high-performance computing, and large-scale, time-dependent parallel computations of transitional and turbulent flows.dtafti@vt.edu

Leigh WinfreyAssistant Professor, NEHigh-energy density plasma modeling, plasma-material interactions, hard coating deposition, materials characterization, and analysis and tribology.leigh.winfrey@vt.edu

Alireza HaghighatDirector of NSELProfessor, Nuclear Engineering (NE) Virginia Tech Research Center at Arlington900 N Glebe Road Arlington, VA 22203haghighat@vt.edu (571) 858-3333(571) 858-3015 (FAX)

Contact Information

Other Key Personnel and Their Expertise

Researchers explore the 3-D nuclear facility in Virginia Tech’s Immersive Visionarium; the plant model was developed by Halden VR Centre.

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