Richard Wood, formerly with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has joined the nuclear engineering faculty at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UT Knoxville), the university said late last week.
Wood worked for ORNL for 30 years and has experience interacting with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which is a plus for students in the nuclear engineering department, the university said.
“That benefits our department and students, both in seeking out and defining upcoming projects, as well as helping meet the goals of such projects,” Wood said.
Wood’s research focus lies in tools, controls and instrumentation used in monitoring and evaluation in the nuclear industry and associated regulatory applications. Wood also has worked with the DOE’s Advanced Small Modular Reactor Program.
“Based on evidence from industry interactions, funding agency programs and licensing experience, there are clearly numerous issues and opportunities within the discipline, as well as a need for nuclear engineers in the workforce with specific knowledge of digital instrumentation and control technology,” Wood said. “A digital instrumentation and control research emphasis in a setting such as UT could really benefit both students and the industry.”
