The Energy Department has launched a funding opportunity with a potential $20 million endowment for projects that will work to advance nuclear reactor technology.DOE said Friday the projects will support the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy‘s Modeling Enhanced Innovations Trailblazing Nuclear Energy Reinvigoration program that aims to identify and develop technologies that facilitate the creation of safer nuclear reactors with lower construction cost and autonomous operations.
“MEITNER projects are developing technologies that will accelerate fabrication and testing, making construction cheaper, while integrating high levels of automation and built-in safety measures across the plant to reduce operational costs,” said ARPA-E Acting Director Eric Rohlfing.
Rohlfing added the program aims to build on the knowledge and resources developed by the Office of Nuclear Energy, which helped ARPA-E formulate the funding opportunity.
The funding opportunity seeks multi-disciplinary collaboration and formation of diverse and experienced project teams that may comprise scientists, engineers and practitioners from fields including the science and technology sectors.
