Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) is essential; and provides the means to maintain scientific and technical vitality through funding highly innovative, high-risk, potentially high-value research and development (R&D). INL's diverse LDRD portfolio explores scientific and engineering concepts — including advanced reactor modeling, nuclear waste reduction and fuel recycling — to develop DOE-NE’s needs. INL's LDRD research stimulates exploration at the forefront of cybersecurity, electric grid reliability and wireless technology. The forward-looking nature of the lab's R&D strengthens the DOE mission by advancing hybrid energy systems and evolving energy security needs.
Award: Early Career Fellow of the Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society.
Leigh Martin was named an Early Career Fellow by the Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society. This award recognizes innovative contributions to and publications on applied chemistry or engineering from early career (under 40 years of age) members of academic, industrial, or government laboratories. Martin received the award based on his extensive and frequently cited work in nuclear fuel cycle chemistry, including aqueous separations and actinide/lanthanide separations processing (Project 13-933).
Richard Williamson
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Award: 2015 American Nuclear Society Materials Science & Technology Division Special Achievement Award.INL’s Richard Williamson, in collaboration with Michael Tonks, an assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering at Penn State University, received this award for developing the BISON-MARMOT fuel performance codes, which are used to predict how reactor fuel behaves throughout its time in a reactor. The goal of the codes is to understand how heat is conducted through the reactor, understand how the reactor mechanically deforms to prevent adverse effects from happening, and ensure that the reactor is efficient. The codes use modern computer architectures effectively, can run on large supercomputers, and are flexible in the type of geometry they can model (Project 14-031).
