NERI 2004 Annual Report

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) created the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) in Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 in response to recommendations provided by the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. The purpose of NERI is to sponsor research and development (R&D) in the nuclear energy sciences to address the principal barriers to the future use of nuclear energy in the United States. NERI is helping to preserve the nuclear science and engineering infrastructure within the Nation's universities, laboratories, and industry, and is advancing the development of nuclear energy technology, enabling the United States to maintain a competitive position in nuclear science and technology. Research under this initiative also addresses issues associated with the maintenance of existing U.S. nuclear plants. The NERI program is managed and funded by DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology. ''The Nuclear Energy Research Initiative 2004 Annual Report'' serves to inform interested parties of progress made in NERI on a programmatic level as well as research progress made on individual NERI projects. Section 2 of this report provides background on the creation and implementation of NERI and on the focus areas for NERI research. Section 3 provides a discussion on NERI's mission, goals and objectives, and work scope. Section 4 highlights the major accomplishments of the NERI projects and provides brief summaries of the NERI research efforts that were completed in 2004. Section 5 provides a discussion on the impact NERI has had on U.S. university nuclear programs. Sections 6 through 8 provide project status reports by research area for each of the fiscal year (FY) 2001 and 2002 projects that were active in FY 2004. Research objectives, progress made over the last year, and activities planned for the next year are described for each project. Sections 9 through 11 present each of the newly awarded 2005 NERI projects in their corresponding focus area. Each abstract includes a brief description of the project, its proposed work scope, and its participants. Project numbers are designated by the FY in which the award was made. At the end of the document, there is an Index of NERI Projects grouped by FY and sequentially ordered by project number