Ohio State Awarded Federal Grant to Support Nuclear Cleanup Efforts

Ohio State Awarded Federal Grant to Support Nuclear Cleanup Efforts

Will help address waste challenge from Cold War-era weapons reduction

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary, Dr. Ernst Moniz, announced up to $40 million in federal monies for four new Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) to accelerate scientific breakthroughs on DOE’s environmental management and nuclear cleanup mission.

The four EFRCs will be led by The Ohio State University, Florida State University, University of South Carolina and DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

“Today’s announcement means that The Ohio State University will be leading the way in discovering cutting-edge strategies to properly dispose of and cleanup nuclear waste,” Beatty said. “This is not just an issue of environmental importance but one of personal well-being for countless Americans.”  

The aim of the EFRCs will be to conduct basic research in support of DOE’s core mission to clean up the hazardous waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons research and production during the last century. The Centers will be focused specifically on two major areas of research: 1) groundbreaking methods for characterization, transformation, and separation of nuclear waste; and 2) new materials for long-term storage of nuclear waste, including waste forms.

Funding for the EFRCs will be between $2 million and $4 million per year for four years, for a total planned federal investment of $40 million. For more information, please visit DOE’s website.