In Dec. 2022, the School of Energy Resources (SER) requested proposals for a funding opportunity for Wyoming faculty on nuclear-related research projects.The projects will be part of the initiative to grow nuclear related research among the campus community.
In January, the SER announced the three nuclear-related project proposal winners to receive funding for research.
“Future energy portfolios will be more diverse than they are today; those portfolios will also prefer reliable and decarbonized energy sources. Nuclear meets both of those metrics.”
The three winners are Caleb Hill J.E. Warren, Chair and an associate professor of chemistry, and co-director of the Nuclear Energy Research Center, Charlie Zhang, assistant professor of Civil and Architectural Engineering, and Bradley Carr, associate research scientist in the Department of Geology and Geophysics and director of the UW Near-Surface Geophysics Instrument Center.
“This was a highly competitive award. The proposal were evaluated on five metrics: Does the proposed project address a needed research gap? What is the potential impact to the Wyoming uranium industry and Wyoming nuclear industry?” Quillinan said.
Nuclear energy is a reliable, commercial, and carbon-free energy technology. The world needs energy for wealth and prosperity.
Societies with access to reliable and affordable energy see increased economic growth. Wyoming is the national leader in Uranium production, which is the source fuel for nuclear power plants.
“This opportunity is very exciting and the research hopes to advance how uranium resource development and extraction moves forward in Wyoming,” Bradley Carr said.
“As for my research goals, this is just one of many research projects that my students and I are involved with pushing the boundaries of geophysical method characterization and development.”
Carr will be looking at how people can better use geophysical methodologies to characterize and (potentially) monitor uranium-bearing layers during exploration and production.
“To date, the uranium mining sector does very little geophysical delineation prior to development. Currently, their main efforts consist of radiometric surveying followed by drilling and borehole geophysical logging,” Carr said.
“Although very useful, many other geophysical methodologies may help their efforts for both economically and responsibly extracting this resource.”
For Carr’s project, his undergraduates and graduates from the Department of Geology and Geophysics will assist in the field acquisition and analysis during the summers of 2023 and 2024.
“I am very excited for our faculty and staff at UW to conduct nuclear related research,” Quillinan said.
“The nuclear energy industry is in its infancy in Wyoming. And, the work that is completed on campus can help guide and inform how that industry ultimately develops in Wyoming.”
