10/18/2010 Colloquium - Mark DeHart

Mark DeHart Idaho National Laboratory

Event Info

Title:  Applied Nuclear Engineering at the INL Advanced Test Reactor

Date: Oct 18, 2010
Location: 3105 Etcheverry Hall
Time: 4-5pm

Abstract

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is located at the Idaho National Laboratory and has been operating continuously since 1967. The Advanced Test Reactor’s missions include materials and nuclear fuels testing for the Navy. It also produces medical isotopes for diagnosing and treating diseases, and performs materials and nuclear fuels testing for government and university research reactors and the commercial nuclear power industry. DOE’s designation of the ATR as a National Scientific User Facility in 2007 enables DOE to facilitate research that would not have been feasible for many researchers and allows for fuller utilization of the facility. Dr. DeHart will discuss the ATR, its key features, the User Facility, and the future direction of the facility.

Speaker Biography

Mark D. DeHart (BS 1984, MS 1986, PhD 1992, nuclear engineering, Texas A&M University) is a Distinguished R&D Staff Member in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Division at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). From 1993 to early 2010, he was employed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), working in both methods and analysis related to criticality safety, burnup credit, data validation, and reactor physics. He is the primary author of the NEWT lattice physics code and the TRITON depletion sequence within the SCALE code system, and led development of modern lattice physics methods at ORNL. In his new role as senior reactor physicist at INL, he is the project leader for methods development and validation in preparation for RERTR fuel core operations at the INL Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). He is also engaged in ongoing reactor physics methods updates for the current ATR fuel cycle, and in experimental measurements being performed to improve characterization of the current and redesigned core performance for both ATR and the ATR Critical Facility. Dr. DeHart has been a member of the American Nuclear Society since 1982, and is currently the secretary of the ANS Reactor Physics Division and the Reactor Physics Co-Chair for the ANS Joint Benchmark Committee.