PLANNING FOR NUCLEAR ENERGY R&D

Abstract

TODAY YOU HAVE THE opportunity to define the new basic research agenda for disciplines that underpin advanced nuclear energy systems. Think boldly and broadly, and don't be bound by yesterday's technology or even today's technology. With those words, Patricia M. Dehmer challenged a roomful of nuclear scientists and engineers from the U.S. and other countries to identify key areas of science in which fundamental research has the potential to make a significant impact on the future of nuclear power. The setting, a Department of Energy nuclear energy workshop held last month in Washington, D.C., was one of a series of workshops coordinated by DOE's Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), which is headed by Dehmer. The goal of the meeting was to produce a report that itemizes the priority research directions needed to address what Dehmer referred to as short-term showstoppers and long-term grand challenges for effective utilization of nuclear energy. Dehmer noted that during ...