Washington (Platts)--17Jul2012/307 pm EDT/1907 GMT

The US Department of Energy on Tuesday awarded $11 million for nuclear reactor technology in research and design to improve safety, performance and cost competitiveness.

Nine projects will share $7.9 million for research on advanced reactor materials for piping, wiring cladding, and other nuclear reactor structures.

Four projects are sharing $3 million to improve the production and design efficiency of nuclear plant components, including advanced concrete construction methods, near-net shape fabrication methods and joining process that can be used in small modular reactors.

DOE national labs, along with universities and industry groups, will conduct the project.

Separately, DOE awarded $1.6 million for three university-led projects that will train and educate students in nuclear engineering, where students will collaborate with scientists from DOE national labs.

"Today's awards will help train and educate our future nuclear energy scientists and engineers, while advancing the technological innovations we need to make sure America's nuclear industry stays competitive in the 21st century," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. "These investments in US universities, national labs and industry advance the Obama administration's efforts to restart our nation's nuclear industry as part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy."

--Herman Wang, herman_wang@platts.com 
--Edited by Linsey Isaacs, linsey_isaacs@platts.com 

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