U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to support Auburn Engineering in advanced nuclear reactor research

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently announced two awards totaling $1 million to Auburn University to advance the future manufacturing and construction of advanced nuclear reactors.

The first award of $499,999, led by Kadir Sener and Jack Montgomery, both assistant professors of civil engineering, is to develop a soil-structure-interaction framework to enhance the regulatory oversight of new generation nuclear power plant designs known as Small Modular Reactors, or SMRs.

The second award of $500,000, led by Xiaoyuan Lou, associate professor of materials engineering, is for establishing the regulatory basis for qualifying laser additively manufactured stainless steels for nuclear applications. In particular, the research focuses on understanding the effects of microstructural variations from the laser additive manufacturing, or AM, process on the irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking susceptibility of reactor structural components.

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