Chemical Engineering Seminar: Nuclear Nonproliferation and the Uranium Science and Technology Center at Oak Ridge National Lab 4/18

04/18/2024
By Zhiyong Gu

Chemical Engineering Seminar on Thursday, April 18 from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. at Shah Hall 301

Title: Nuclear Nonproliferation and the Uranium Science and Technology Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Roger Kapsimalis
Nonproliferation Program Manager
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Briana Hiscox
Nuclear Reactor Analyst
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Abstract:

The US DOE National Laboratory complex plays a key role in the US Government’s efforts to sustain nuclear nonproliferation capabilities through the advancement of basic and applied research. The research supports numerous federal agencies, including the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). This seminar will provide an overview of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) efforts to support the missions of NNSA by highlighting recent technical and programmatic developments, particularly within the front-end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Included in these developments are ORNL’s increasing role in NNSA’s Nonproliferation Stewardship Program and the establishment of the Uranium Science & Technology Center. These efforts, in concert with advancements made in basic and applied uranium science, increase the US’s technical capabilities to enhance nuclear security around the globe.

Biography:
Roger Kapsimalis manages ORNL’s contributions to NNSA’s Nonproliferation Stewardship Program and is the Principal Investigator of the Uranium Science & Technology Center. Through these efforts, Roger aims to increase ORNL’s capacity to meet nonproliferation challenges in the uranium fuel cycle. Prior to this role, Roger served as Senior R&D Staff and Group Leader within the Nuclear Nonproliferation Division. Roger received his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering and a B.S. in physics from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Briana Hiscox has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Connecticut in 2015 and her masters’ degree in Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT in 2018. Since then, she has worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a Nuclear Reactor Analyst. Her research focus is reactor physics and fuel cycle modeling, including modeling new nuclear reactor and fuel materials and concepts, code validation with experimental data, and the nuclear fuel cycle.