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Nuclear Energy

Sandia conducts many projects supported through DOE's Office of Energy Research that contribute to DOE's science and technology mission. These projects include established activities in the following program areas:

Nuclear Reactor Safety
	Our broad-based safety research for NRC has made us a leader in probabilistic risk assessment, containment structural integrity, severe accidents seismic reliability, dynamic loading from missile impact on structures, equipment operability, fire protection, reactor safety phenomenological research, and safeguards/security.
Light Water Reactor Technology
	Sandia works with DOE and the nuclear industry to develop and implement reactor safety features and aging management techniques and concepts that offer significant improvements. Some of these projects are extending the operating life of existing reactors by an additional 20 years, upgrading the instrumentation and control of existing reactors to increase reliability and to reduce maintenance costs, and demonstrating thermal annealing techniques to reduce reactor pressure vessel embrittlement.
International Nuclear Safety
	The program is involved with a number of foreign countries through DOE- and NRC-sponsored international cooperative research projects and technology transfer and technical assistance projects. Areas of cooperation include code development and experimental work related to nuclear reactor safety and consequence assessments. Some of the foreign partners are Japan, France, Germany, Russia, and England.
DOE Nuclear Facility Safety
	We support DOE in the development of systematic methods to improve the safety of their nuclear facilities. Application of conduct of operations concepts and risk management techniques are examples of approaches to improve the safety of these facilities.
Risk Assessment
	We develop methods and techniques to support risk-based regulations and decisions, perform prioritization, and improve the reliability and safety of complex systems (including software reliability).

The Nuclear Energy Technology program provides relevant and defensible technical information and effective approaches for making or supporting critical decisions concerning the safety and reliability of nuclear systems. We participate in important national initiatives involving nuclear energy regulation and innovative applications of nuclear technology. We have the responsibility for the nuclear energy programs within the Energy and Environment Division. The major program areas are Nuclear Reactor Safety, Light Water Reactor Technology, International Nuclear Safety, DOE Nuclear Facilities Safety, and Risk Assessment.

Major customers include the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Department of Energy/Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE/NE), and the Department of Defense (DoD). We have approximately ten experimental facilities located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Contact: Dennis Berry, Director
Nuclear Energy Technology
Sandia National Laboratories
P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0736
Phone: 505-844-0234, Fax: 505-844-0591
Email: dlberry@sandia.gov