FY2017 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research Funding Opportunity Announcement

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) conducts crosscutting nuclear energy research and development (R&D) and associated infrastructure support activities to develop innovative technologies that offer the promise of dramatically improved performance for advanced reactors and fuel cycle concepts while maximizing the impact of DOE resources.NE strives to promote integrated and collaborative research conducted by national laboratory, university, industry, and international partners under the direction of NE’s programs. NE funds research activities through both competitive and direct mechanisms, as required to best meet the needs of NE. This approach ensures a balanced R&D portfolio and encourages new nuclear power deployment with creative solutions to the universe of nuclear energy challenges. This FOA addresses the competitive portion of NE’s R&D portfolio as executed through the Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP), Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET) Crosscutting Technology Development (CTD), and the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF). NEUP utilizes up to 20% of funds appropriated to NE’s R&D program for university-based infrastructure support and R&D in key NE program-related areas: Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FC R&D), Reactor Concepts Research, Development and Demonstration (RC RD&D), and Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS). NEET CTD supports national laboratory-, university- and industry-led crosscutting research. By establishing the NSUF in 2007, DOE-NE opened up the world of material test reactors, beam lines, and post-irradiation examination facilities to researchers from U.S. universities, industry and national laboratories by granting no-cost access to world-class nuclear research facilities. In addition to the consolidation of the NSUF Call for Applications (CFA) for access to capabilities, NEUP or NEET CTD projects requiring irradiation testing and/or post-irradiation examination (PIE) may include no-cost access to NSUF capabilities through a single application response to this FOA.NE reserves the right to respond to potential shifts in R&D priorities during Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 that may be driven by events, policy developments, or Congressional/budget direction. NE will factor such considerations into decisions related to the timing and scale of award announcements associated with this FOA. Further, NE reserves the right to fund all or part of an application to this FOA with programmatic funds.