UCBNE Receives Two Major Research Awards

The Department of Nuclear Engineering is pleased to announce that UC Berkeley has been awarded two multi-year awards through the UCOP Lab Fees Research Program. The Program received 565 proposals comprising approximately $500M of research averaging $194M/yr. UC's net management fees provide an available pool of approximately $19M/yr for this research program.

The first award will establish the Berkeley Nuclear Research Center (BNRC), a joint UCB venture with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The initial proposal, which requested $1.5 million in funding per year was ranked 3rd from a total of 72 in the Large Proposal panel. The top 6 proposals in this panel received funding, which will be drawn from the University of California's net management fee for LLNL and LANL.

Prof. Jasmina Vujic (NE), principal investigator, along with co-PI's Dave McCallen (LLNL), Sara Scott (LANL), Jim Siegrist (LBNL, UCB) and UCB collaborators Joonhong Ahn (NE) and Michael Nacht (Public Policy) will set up a research and policy center (BNRC) that will harness the campus and laboratories joint strengths in nuclear science, technology, and policy, in all key aspects of sustainable nuclear energy development. The BNRC will provide strategic insight, science and engineering leadership, and research and development results to positively impact issues in the areas of nuclear energy, nuclear waste repositories and environmental impact, nuclear regulation and non-proliferation.

The existence of the Center will simplify exchange and collaboration among faculty, Lab researchers, students and international partners, particularly from Asia-Pacific countries. BNRC-supported Laboratory scientists will spend from several weeks to several months on the UCB Campus as Affiliated Researchers, participating in proposed research, contributing to graduate teaching in various UCB departments (Nuclear Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Public Policy, and others), and participating in organizing seminars and workshops. The Center also will support several graduate students per year and postdoctoral researchers per year that will spend extended periods of time at the national laboratories.

The second award, to Prof. Stanley Prussin (NE, LLNL) along with co-PI's Kai Vetter (NE and LBL) and Marie-Anne Descalle (LLNL)., will investigate "Primary Screening of Cargo Containers for high-Z Materials". The ultimate purpose of this project is to develop an advanced radiography system to screen cargo containers for special nuclear material (SNM), an acknowledged national and international problem of high priority. The investigators will perform detailed simulations to understand the range of applicability of the methodology for a broad range of cargo types and geometries, to define optimum designs for two test radiation detectors chosen to span the range of characteristics that might be considered for use in such a system, to construct the test detectors and an integrated signal processing system, and to perform experimental tests with a range of cargos under both known and fully blind conditions.

The Department of Homeland Security has recently tested prototypes of the Cargo Advanced Automated Radiography System (CAARS) as a primary means of screening intermodal cargo containers for the possible presence of fissionable materials in metallic form. These prototypes have failed to meet performance requirements and significant doubt has been raised concerning the efficacy of the fundamental approach on which the prototypes are based. Prof. Prussin and his colleagues recently demonstrated the feasibility of a high-sensitivity radiographic methodology for detecting small quantities of high-Z materials in elemental form in the massive cargos of intermodal containers through Monte Carlo simulations. The method has the potential to provide a rapid, general purpose primary screening procedure that exceeds DHS specifications for CAARS and uses commercially-available bremsstrahlung sources within their operational capabilities.

The funding proposal, which requested slightly under $1,000,000 per year, was ranked 3rd from a total of 135 in the Engineering, Computer Science, Math & Statistics panel. The top 13 proposals in this panel received funding.

For more information about the Lab Fees Program and review process, please see http://www.ucop.edu/research; for information about the Nuclear Engineering Department, see http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu