Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University

Researchers at Texas A&M are accelerating the search for future nuclear reactor materials! On Wednesday, nuclear engineering professor Dr. Lin Shao presented at Texas A&M Faculty Affair's IMPACT Summit, which brings together faculty from a variety of fields to give "TED-style" talks. In his presentation, Dr. Shao spoke about the crucial role of materials science in the emerging "nuclear renaissance," and the research at Texas A&M to find the right materials to build the foundation for this renaissance. He shared the challenges to finding and testing the right materials for experimental reactors, such as molten salt reactors and nuclear fusion plants. The solution? Particle accelerators, such as the TAMU Accelerator Laboratory, are being used to simulate years of radiation damage of a nuclear reactor in a fraction of the time.

Running on only two hours of sleep and energized by lively music blaring through loudspeakers, Texas A&M nuclear engineering senior Gabriel Ivory navigated to the front of a dense crowd, clutching a large paper sign reading “I ❤️ Nuclear Energy.” It was the Aggies' first home game of the season, and ESPN's College GameDay TV show was in town. When he realized he was finally behind the stage and in College GameDay's camera shot, Gabriel raised his sign, bringing his message to football fans across the country. Since then, Gabriel's sign has been duplicated at several other college football games, including in following episodes of College GameDay. Read more about the movement started by Gabriel's sign and nuclear advocacy efforts at Texas A&M: tx.ag/DIhHfAC

Congratulations to Dr. Jean Ragusa, who began a joint appointment with Idaho National Laboratory on October 1! 👍 This joint appointment will strengthen the already close partnership between Texas A&M and the national lab, which largely focuses on the research of nuclear reactors. Dr. Ragusa’s collaboration with INL goes back nearly two decades, and he took part in the lab’s efforts to streamline the many software programs that represent different physics in computer simulations. Many of his students have also interned and found jobs at INL, where they continue to work on these multiphysics simulation programs. Now, thanks to this joint appointment, Dr. Ragusa will have more opportunities to participate in INL research and mentor early-career scientists at the lab. Read more about Dr. Ragusa’s work with INL: tx.ag/yKJi9ic

Congrats to Atomic Aggie Diego Ross for receiving a Craig Brown Outstanding Senior Engineer Award! 👍 Diego, an undergraduate nuclear engineering student graduating in the spring, is one of ten seniors across the College of Engineering who earned this prestigious award. Each Outstanding Engineer will receive a $5,000 award and recognition at the Engineering Advisory Council fall banquet later this month. "I am so grateful to Mr. Brown and the College of Engineering for recognizing me with this award," Diego said. "It is truly an honor to be selected among so many fantastic students. I am thankful as well for the support from the NUEN department and faculty as they have been indispensable in my time at A&M."

A team of Texas A&M researchers are looking for a way to bring us a step closer to harnessing the same physics that powers the sun! 🌟 A research project through the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) was one of 13 projects chosen to participate in ARPA-E's Creating Hardened and Durable fusion first Wall Incorporating Centralized Knowledge (CHADWICK) program, which aims to develop materials for the interior wall surrounding the energy source in a nuclear fusion power plant. Nuclear fusion, the phenomenon that gives stars their energy, is a completely different source of nuclear energy drawn from the fusion of lighter elements, like hydrogen, instead of breaking apart heavier atoms like uranium. The Texas A&M project will use large datasets from existing material modeling codes to train machine learning tools that would more quickly identify the best materials to use in nuclear fusion power plants. The project, BIRDSHOT-FUSE (Batch-wise Improvement in Reduced Design Space using a Holistic Optimization Technique for FUSion Environments), will receive $2.36 million from the CHADWICK program. Congratulations! 👍 Learn more about the CHADWICK program and Texas A&M’s contribution in the shared post below:

The gameday movement that started at Texas A&M continues! It's wonderful to see the ❤️ for nuclear at UC Berkeley!

BTHO Mizzou and show your ❤️ for nuclear this weekend! Our new "I ❤️ Nuclear" 12th Man towels, inspired by Gabriel Ivory's famous College GameDay sign, are here and hot off the press. Pick up yours for free in AIEN M210 now!

✨ Last night, we celebrated our outstanding students, faculty and staff at the Department of Nuclear Engineering awards banquet. This year, nuclear engineering students have received — at least — an astonishing $1.4 million in scholarships, fellowships, and awards. Congratulations to all of our Atomic Aggies! 👍

Whoop! 👍 Three Texas A&M nuclear engineering researchers received awards from Nuclear Science User Facilities for Rapid Turnaround Experiment projects, which help nuclear energy researchers access testing, computing, and technical expertise. These projects aim to understand the behavior of materials when they are irradiated. PhD student Rijul Chauhan is researching a high-throughput ion irradiation approach to measure temperature-dependent swelling in 316L alloy. PhD student Kenneth Cooper is comparing Hastelloy X and 316L stainless steel under simultaneous irradiation and corrosion. Postdoctoral researcher Zhihan Hu is studying the formation and dissolution of carbides and precipitates in self-ion irradiated HT9 alloy.

Atomic Aggie and GameDay nuclear advocate Gabriel Ivory is in New York City this week for the 2024 Nuclear Symposium at Climate Week! See his thoughts and experiences from the symposium on Westinghouse Electric Company's page: