Nuclear arms consortium that includes ORNL receives $25 million grant from NNSA

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A research and development consortium led by the University of Michigan has received a $25 million grant for nuclear arms control verification technologies, including nuclear safeguards effectiveness.

The consortium includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The grant was announced on Monday by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development. The consortium will receive $5 million per year for five years, a press release said. The award is in response to a funding opportunity announcement issued in May 2013.

“Nuclear arms control verification technologies provide tools to support and improve the ability of the U.S. government to monitor compliance with nuclear arms control commitments and treaty obligations,” the press release said. “Nuclear safeguards support the International Atomic Energy Agency’s mission to monitor the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the commitments of signatory countries to refrain from developing new nuclear weapons. Other work under the consortium will include efforts in geophysical modeling for the detection of underground nuclear detonations to support test monitoring.”

“Developing the R&D expertise of tomorrow can take years to cultivate,” said NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington. “But we are linking national laboratories and academia by funding the next generation of researchers to perform complex research and gain an understanding of technical challenges in areas of major importance for the nuclear nonproliferation mission that can only be garnered first-hand at the national laboratories.”

In addition to the University of Michigan, the consortium also includes other members, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Columbia, North Carolina State, University of Hawaii, Pennsylvania State, Duke, University of Wisconsin, University of Florida, Oregon State, Yale, and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; and several national laboratories, including Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, Sandia, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest and Idaho.