ISU prof gets grants worth $2M for nuclear program

POCATELLO — The 200,000-square-foot building that has sat vacant along Alvin Ricken Drive in Pocatello for the last several years will soon be put to good use thanks to officials with the Department of Energy that awarded Idaho State University Associate Professor Eric Burgett two grants worth an estimated $2 million.

“This is huge for our nuclear engineering program and a credit to Eric — that he is on the leading edge of radiation and nuclear research in two different areas,” said George Imel, dean of the ISU College of Science and Engineering. “It speaks well for the entire university.”

Burgett will use the funds to develop advanced radiation detectors and to measure fuel levels inside nuclear reactors. “Receiving these grants was only made possible by the fact that we have our new IJRC Research Center,” said Burgett, in reference to the ISU Research Park and the recent acquisition to purchase the former Ballard building. “The space and equipment at the new facility will help us move forward in a multi-disciplinary effort, working with a number of different universities. We just couldn’t have conducted this kind of research in any of our other buildings.”

The titles of Burgett’s grants are “In-Pile Instrumentation Multi-Parameter System Utilizing Photonic Fibers and Nanovision” and “Plasmonically Cloaked and Metamaterial Neutron Scintillators.”

“For measuring fuel inside a reactor, you can’t imagine a worse environment,” Burgett said. “The radiation levels, extreme temperatures and pressures are almost unimaginable. Our study is an application of nanotechnology. It is applied research to a real-world problem ... not only do we push the theory, but we’re pushing a theory to drive a solution to a real-world need.”

Officials with the DOE allocated funding for 51 different university projects this week in order to bolster nuclear research and development in the United States.