Research and Development

Since the program's inception, the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) has employed a unique process for selecting new research and development (R&D) projects. Principal investigators (PIs) select research topics of interest, in response to NERI solicitations, and define the scope and extent of the R&D in their proposals. The Department of Energy (DOE) employs an independent, expert peer review process to judge the scientific and technical merit of the R&D proposal. DOE reviews those proposals judged to have the highest scientific and technical merit to ensure their conformance with DOE policy and programmatic requirements. Because the R&D proposals are researcher-initiated, NERI assures that the research is innovative. The newly refocused program uses a similar peer review process; however, research topic areas are more clearly defined and a relevance review is also conducted to ensure that awarded projects are related to the needs of the specific R&D programs that they support.