Andrew T Nelson

Bio

Dr. Andrew T. Nelson is a distinguished staff scientist and section head of the Nuclear Fuel Development Section at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has held both group leader and team leader positions centered on fuel fabrication and nuclear fuel materials organizations at ORNL. Prior to joining ORNL in 2018, Dr. Nelson served as the team leader for Ceramic Nuclear Fuels in the Materials Science and Technology Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Nelson currently holds numerous leadership roles in DOE-NE and NNSA fuel development programs.

Dr. Nelson’s research interests are focused on the development and assessment of novel nuclear fuels, with an emphasis on advanced fuel systems for light water reactors. He is also active in development of high-density dispersion and particle fuel concepts for nonproliferation applications; this work seeks to couple advanced manufacturing and in situ diagnostics to improve performance and reduce conservatisms inherent to reference nuclear fuel fabrication methods. Dr. Nelson has authored or co-authored over eighty peer-reviewed publications in the areas of nuclear fuel and cladding materials, ceramics, and high temperature materials.

Publications