Nuclear Energy Engineering Department

The Nuclear Energy Engineering Department covers the geological dimension of the nuclear fuel cycle, training students in the safety disciplines spanning uranium exploration through deep-repository siting. Students learn to trace contaminant behavior through radionuclide-transport modeling and to evaluate a repository site's safety over tens of thousands of years using long-term geologic-stability simulation. By graduation, students are equipped to make substantive contributions to the safety assessment and siting of nuclear-waste isolation facilities.

⚙️ GeoAcademy System Administration College 🖥️ AI & Computing Sciences College 🔬 Basic Sciences College ⚡ Intelligent Geophysical Exploration College 🛢️ Resource & Energy Engineering College 🌍 Applied Geoscience Solutions College 💼 Economics, Policy & Strategy for the Future College 🎓 Education & Training Development College 🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration College

Well & Production Engineering Department Rock Mechanics & Geomechanics Department Geothermal Energy Engineering Department Hydrogen Energy & Storage Department Carbon Engineering Department Mining Engineering Department Nuclear Energy Engineering Department Reservoir Modeling & Recovery Department

🔑

⭐ Fermi

Chair

💡 Nuclear Physics & Reactor Engineering

Researchers (real GeoVerse Lab members) 19

🔑

1919–2006

Charles A. Steen

Researcher

💡 Discovered the Mi Vida uranium deposit near Moab, Utah (1952), a discovery that reshaped US uranium ore-genesis models (unconformity/roll-front style deposits) and sparked the Colorado Plateau uranium boom

🔑

1882–1945

Hans Geiger

Researcher

💡 Co-invented the Geiger-Muller counter (1928), the foundational instrument for detecting and measuring radioactivity, later adapted into scintillometers and portable survey instruments used in uranium exploration

🔑

1911–1994

Alfred Nier

Researcher

💡 First precisely measured the isotopic composition of uranium (235U/238U ratio, 1939) using a purpose-built mass spectrometer, work foundational to both uranium geochronology and the recognition of fissile 235U

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1933–2023

John Bredehoeft

Researcher

💡 USGS hydrogeologist who authored foundational earth-science assessments of geologic disposal of high-level radioactive waste and chaired National Academy of Sciences reviews of the Yucca Mountain repository program

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1917–1998

Hans Ramberg

Researcher

💡 Pioneered centrifuge analog modeling of salt tectonics and gravity-driven deformation of the crust, establishing the rheological framework for understanding salt-body flow behavior

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1917–1991

Georges Millot

Researcher

💡 Authored the foundational treatise Geology of Clays (1964/1970), establishing the systematic mineralogical and sedimentological framework used to characterize clay/claystone formations such as those studied as repository host rocks

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1898–1974

Ernst Cloos

Researcher

💡 Pioneered systematic structural analysis of granite plutons — primary igneous flow structures, lineation, and fracture/joint patterns — establishing methods used to characterize crystalline basement rock

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1880–1975

Clarence S. Ross

Researcher

💡 Co-authored the foundational 1926 study establishing the mineralogical definition and volcanic-ash alteration origin of bentonite, the montmorillonite clay now used worldwide as engineered-barrier buffer material in nuclear waste repositories

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1904–1998

Marcel Pourbaix

Researcher

💡 Invented the Pourbaix (potential-pH) diagram, the standard electrochemical stability-mapping tool used to predict corrosion behavior of metals, including nuclear waste canister materials, in aqueous environments

🔑

1912–1999

Glenn T. Seaborg

Researcher

💡 Co-discovered plutonium and eight other transuranic elements, and established the actinide concept placing these elements in the periodic table — the foundational chemistry describing how actinide radionuclides speciate and behave in aqueous environments

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1922–2010

Thomas Pigford

Researcher

💡 Co-founded the academic discipline of nuclear waste management engineering and developed analytical models for radionuclide release from repositories, foundational to modern total system performance assessment methodology

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1926–2012

William F. Brace

Researcher

💡 Experimentally established how permeability, effective stress, and pore pressure interact in crystalline rock under high confining pressure, foundational to coupled hydro-mechanical modeling of repository near-field rock

🔑

1902–1995

Kiyoo Wadati

Researcher

💡 Discovered the systematic distribution of deep-focus earthquakes along inclined seismic zones (the Wadati-Benioff zone), foundational to understanding long-term regional seismotectonic structure

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1903–1992

Ruth Terzaghi

Researcher

💡 Identified systematic sampling and orientation biases in rock joint/discontinuity surveys, establishing rigorous methodology for characterizing rock-mass structure used in subsurface site investigation

🔑

1920–2012

George A. Cowan

Researcher

💡 Led the American scientific analysis explaining the Oklo phenomenon in Gabon as a natural, self-sustaining nuclear fission reactor that operated roughly 1.7 billion years ago, and used it to validate long-term fission-product retention in the host rock

🔑

1907–1999

Karl Z. Morgan

Researcher

💡 Founded the discipline of health physics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, establishing the radiation-protection survey methods used to characterize and manage residual contamination at nuclear fuel-cycle facilities

🧑‍🔬

🔑

1924–2010

Rustum Roy

Researcher

💡 Prominent materials scientist who argued for matching radioactive waste-form technology (ceramics/synthetic-rock alternatives to borosilicate glass) to the specific hazard classification of the waste being immobilized

🔑

1918–2007

John Gofman

Researcher

💡 Co-discovered protactinium-232, uranium-232, and uranium-233, and later became a leading and controversial researcher on the health effects of low-level environmental radioactive contamination, including from uranium milling and mining

🔑

1908–1980

Willard Libby

Researcher

💡 Invented radiocarbon (14C) dating (1949), the foundational isotopic method later adapted to determine groundwater residence times used in assessing the long-term hydrogeologic stability of repository sites