The Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory has launched a new facility in South Carolina focused on aligning the advancement of nuclear energy with weapons nonproliferation efforts.
The Nonproliferation Applied Sciences Center will gather scientists, engineers and policy experts to research and develop security technologies that can safeguard nuclear materials used as an energy resource, SRNL said Wednesday.
Tammy Taylor, an SRNL associate laboratory director and NASC’s initial chief, explained that the center will “build on the reality that nuclear, as a form of clean energy, requires modern nuclear material security solutions; and be an innovation and collaboration hub for advancing new approaches and solutions to safeguarding nuclear materials.”
Among the center’s goals are advancing radiation detection and validation testing methods, developing capabilities for nuclear-related manufacturing, modernizing nuclear security technologies, and developing ways for the disposal of weapons-usable nuclear materials.
SRNL plans to select a permanent director for NASC in 2022.