Office of Nuclear Energy Awards Grant to Clemson Program
Clemson’s Nuclear Environmental Engineering and Science (NEES) program gets an upgrade in research equipment with a Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) University Readiness grant from the Department of Energy at the Office of Nuclear Energy.
Clemson’s program focuses on environmental aspects of nuclear technologies. It is a graduate program that includes radioactive waste processing, environmental health physics, environmental radiochemistry, environmental remediation radiation detection and measurement and environmental risk assessment.
“This equipment will be used to support GNEP-related research aimed at understanding the chemical behavior of radionuclides within the advanced nuclear fuel cycle and the natural environment. It will also educate students of the various facets of environmental radiochemistry and the processing of nuclear fuel,” said Brian Powell, incoming assistant professor of environmental engineering and earth science at Clemson University.
The GNEP Readiness money will be used to purchase three items: a liquid scintillation counter, an automated titrator and materials and supplies for potentiometric titrations.
The GNEP University Readiness awards aim to upgrade laboratories, improve reactor facilities, purchase state-of-the-art equipment, provide increased faculty support and further enhance nuclear-related curricula at the nation’s universities. GNEP is part of a President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative to close the nuclear fuel cycle by reducing proliferation risks, reducing waste and further increasing energy security around the world.
NEES is a graduate student-only academic program established in the 1980s within the department of environmental engineering and earth sciences at Clemson. It is a combination of classroom and laboratory instruction and research. Environmental health physics or environmental radiochemistry are the two tracks an NEES student can follow.
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