The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released $6 million in funding for projects that improve the collection, analysis and release of data on nuclear science, the agency announced this month.
The $6 million will fund seven DOE-selected projects in basic and applied nuclear science data, the DOE announced May 5. DOE access to timely, accurate nuclear data is vital to U.S. objectives, including "non-proliferation, nuclear forensics, homeland security, national defense, space exploration, clean energy generation, and scientific research," the DOE states in the announcement.
"Nuclear data is important in both basic nuclear science and applications," Timothy Hallman, DOE Associate Director of Science for Nuclear Physics, said in the statement. "Up-to-date, high-precision nuclear data is essential to help ensure accurate modeling tools which lead to robust and realistic designs for systems in nuclear science and engineering."
The monies will support research in fields pertinent to DOE goals, the DOE reports, with priorities on improvements to the nuclear-data pipeline in the areas of data collection, analysis and distribution; multi-disciplinary projects with high impact; and projects focused on basic nuclear science.
"Projects include research related to antineutrino detection for basic science and energy applications," the DOE states in the report, "nuclear data on thermal neutron capture which is important for many areas of nuclear science, and methods to improve the fidelity and impact of nuclear data experiments."
Advancements in commercial developments, including innovations in medicines, energy, security, nuclear-reactor design and the production of isotopes, also rely on access to access to nuclear data, according to the DOE.
"The mission of the United States Nuclear Data Program (USNDP). managed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Nuclear Physics (NP) program, is to provide current, accurate, authoritative data for workers in pure and applied areas of nuclear science and engineering," the DOE writes in the statement
Projects were selected by competitive peer review via the DOE's Funding Opportunity Announcements for its Nuclear Data Inter-Agency Working Group Research Program and the Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program, according to the announcement. The $6 million will fund projects lasting three years, according to the report, with $2.7 million awarded in Fiscal Year 2022. Outyear funding will depend on congressional appropriations, the DOE states.
