Steve Short, a nuclear engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has been selected as a fellow of the National Society of Professional Engineers.
Nora Wang, an energy efficiency researcher at PNNL, is one of 82 early-career engineers from across the country invited to participate in the annual NAE Frontiers of Engineering symposium.
In fast-neutron reactors, fuel is sealed in ~7 millimeter diameter steel tubes called cladding. When a high-energy "fast" neutron strikes an atom in the steel, it can knock the atom out of place, like a cue ball striking another billiard ball. This leaves two types of damage in the metal: an empty spot where the atom was, and the displaced atom wedged between other atoms. Over time, these defects typically drive undesirable rearrangement of the microstructure, potentially reducing the life of the cladding.
Discovery in action. These words describe what we do at PNNL. For more than 50 years, we have advanced the frontiers of science and engineering in the service of our nation and the the world.