The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $800,000 to UF’s nuclear engineering program for a three-year program to study new technology for fuel rods.
The money is part of a $19.9 million investment by the government to fund nuclear fuel cycle research.
Thirty-two other universities were selected for grants, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Case Western Reserve University.
James S. Tulenko, professor emeritus in the nuclear engineering program and principal investigator of the project, said the money will let the department establish a three-year program to study the use of diamond nanoparticles on fuel rods.
“The money will allow us to employ two full-time graduate assistants and two undergraduate assistants,” Tulenko said.
The diamond nanoparticles, which Tulenko said are inexpensive and readily available, could increase the power generated by nuclear plants, lead to safer fuel rods and reduce gaseous fission emissions.
Also, diamonds are a stable material and can help cool the nuclear fuel.
“We’ll get more power from the rods for basically the same price,” he said.
If his research is successful, Tulenko said, it could show ways that past nuclear accidents could have been prevented.
“It potentially could have avoided the Three Mile Island accident,” he said.
Contact Shelby Webb at swebb@alligator.org.
