The Reactor Physics Division of the American Nuclear Society has selected Benjamin R. Betzler as the 2021 Early Career Reactor Physicist.
Betzler, who is the Group Leader of Research and Test Reactor Physics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was honored for “excellence and leadership in applied reactor physics research and development for advanced reactor designs.” He served as program director of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy-funded Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR) program based at ORNL.
One of the program's successes was the first 3D-printed component installed and operating in a nuclear power reactor. The components, four 3D-printed fuel assembly brackets, were successfully installed and put in routine operating conditions at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 2 in Athens, Alabama, in early 2021 (see article).
