The Distinguished Early Career Program (DECP) is the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy’s (NE) most prestigious award for the most innovative distinguished faculty members beginning their independent careers.
Donor Name: Idaho Field Office
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/07/2023
Size of the Grant: $625,000
Grant Duration: 5 years and 2 months
Details:
The Office of Nuclear Energy’s (NE) mission is to advance nuclear energy science and technology to meet U.S. energy, environmental, and economic needs. NE has identified the following goals to address challenges in the nuclear energy sector, help realize the potential of advanced technology, and leverage the unique role of the government in spurring innovation:
- Keep existing U.S. nuclear reactors operating
- Deploy new nuclear reactors
- Secure and sustain their nuclear fuel cycle
- Expand international nuclear energy cooperation
Collectively, all NE-sponsored activities support the Department’s priorities to combat the climate crisis, create clean energy jobs with the free and fair chance to join a union and bargain collectively, and promote equity and environmental justice by delivering innovative clean energy technologies for nuclear energy systems.
The intent of the program is to provide stable support to those faculty to form the impactful research groups, innovative lines of inquiry, educational approaches, and critical new research directions that will drive the next generation of nuclear energy innovation, NE encourages all eligible applicants, especially women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities, to apply.
This FOA is soliciting distinguished early career applications that provide a clear research and education plan that highlights the applicant’s research and educational strengths, the research and education vision to support the development of the faculty member, research infrastructure, curriculum, and research outcomes that will advance the applicant’s research focus while training the next generation of nuclear energy professionals.
Integration of Research and Education
All applications should describe an integrated path that will lead to a successful career as an outstanding researcher, educator, and contributor to the broader nuclear energy community. NE recognizes that there is no single approach to an integrated research and education plan but encourages all applicants to think creatively about the reciprocal relationship between the proposed research and education activities and how they may inform each other in their career development as both outstanding researchers and educators. These plans should reflect the proposer’s own disciplinary and educational interests and goals, as well as the needs and context of their organization. Because there may be different expectations within different disciplinary fields and/or different organizations, a wide range of research and education activities may be appropriate for this program.
Major Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) Research Programs
- Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FC R&D) Program
- The mission of the FC R&D program is to develop used nuclear fuel management strategies and technologies to support meeting the Federal Government responsibility to manage and dispose of the nation’s commercial used nuclear fuel and high-level waste and to develop sustainable fuel cycle technologies and options that improve resource utilization and energy generation, reduce waste generation, enhance safety, and limit proliferation risk
- The program’s vision is that by mid-century, strategies and technologies for the safe, long-term management and eventual disposal of U.S. commercial used nuclear fuel, and any associated fuel cycle technologies that enhance the accident tolerance of light water reactors and enable sustainable fuel cycles, are demonstrated and deployed. Together, these technologies and solutions support the enhanced availability, affordability, safety, and security of nuclear generated electricity in the United States
- Reactor Concepts Research, Development, and Demonstration (RC RD&D) Program
- The RC RD&D Program conducts RD&D on existing and advanced reactor designs and technologies to enable industry to address technical challenges with maintaining the existing fleet of nuclear reactors, and to promote the development of a robust pipeline of advanced reactor designs and technologies, and supply chain capabilities. Program activities are designed to address technical, cost, safety, and security issues associated with the existing commercial light water reactor fleet and advanced reactor technologies, such as small modular reactor (SMR) and microreactor designs, fast reactors using liquid metal coolants, and high-temperature reactors using gas or liquid salt coolants
- Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Program
- The mission of the NEAMS Program is to accelerate early-stage development of advanced reactor concepts and enable improved economics of new and existing designs by providing leading-edge computational tools to U.S. industry. The primary program objective is to develop and deploy these predictive tools and methods to industry, academia, and Government, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), for research, analysis, design, and regulatory acceptance of advanced reactor and fuel cycle systems
- Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies Crosscutting Technology Development (NEET CTD)
- Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies Crosscutting Technology Development (NEET The NEET CTD program conducts R&D in crosscutting technologies that directly support and enable the development of new and advanced reactor designs and fuel cycle technologies. These technologies will advance the state of nuclear technology, improve its competitiveness, and promote continued contribution to meeting their nation’s energy and environmental challenges.
- Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF)
- NE funds access to world-class capabilities to facilitate the advancement of nuclear science and technology. This mission is supported by providing access, at no cost to the user, to state-of-theart experimental irradiation testing and PIE facilities, as well as technical assistance, including the design and analysis of reactor experiments. This unique model is best described as a distributed partnership with each facility bringing exceptional capabilities and expertise to the relationship, including reactors, beamlines, state-of-the-art instruments, hot cells and, most importantly, expert technical and scientific assistance. Together, these capabilities and people create a nation-wide infrastructure that allows the best ideas to be proven using the most advanced capabilities
- Office of Integrated Waste Management (IWM)
- The Office of Integrated Waste Management (IWM) is pursuing federal consolidated interim storage for commercial spent nuclear fuel using a consent-based siting approach. Interim storage and associated transportation, both key components of an integrated waste management system along with disposal pathways, will enable the federal government to take an important step toward fulfilling its responsibilities to dispose of the Nation’s spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. IWM program activities address the technical, engineering, and operational aspects of implementing a storage facility and associated transportation in parallel with the consent-based approach to siting, which includes broad public participation, a focus on the needs and concerns of people and communities, as well as equity and environmental justice.
Funding Information
- DOE anticipates that, subject to the availability of future year appropriations, a total of $2,500,000 in current fiscal year funds will be used to support awards under this FOA. Awards are fully funded in the first project year
- DOE expects the typical award size to be around $625,000 over 5 years and 2 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Private institutions of higher education
- Applications must be submitted through a U.S. academic institution. An employee with a joint appointment between a university and a DOE national laboratory can apply through the IHE if the IHE pays the applicant’s salary and provides their benefits
- Eligible individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as a PI are invited to work with his/her organizations to develop an application for assistance. Individuals from underrepresented groups, those with disabilities, and people from all geographic and economic backgrounds, are encouraged to apply
- NE also strives to ensure energy justice through effective teams and/or partnerships with MSIs, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs).
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
