South Carolina plans nuclear research centre

12 October 2011

A new Centre of Economic Excellence is to be established at the University of South Carolina (USC) to develop strategies for enhancing the use of nuclear energy, university officials have announced. Nuclear technology company General Atomics will donate $900,000 to establish the General Atomics Centre for Development of Transformational Nuclear Technologies, while the state of South Carolina will provide funds of $3 million through the Centre of Economic Excellence program, itself funded through South Carolina Educational Lottery proceeds. The new centre will be within USC's College of Engineering and Computing. It will study "technologies tied to recycling of used fuel, better resource utilization and waste reduction, as well as technologies for faster and less expensive construction of nuclear plants." USC president Harris Pastides said, "Researchers at this centre will work to ensure that nuclear power remains safe, clean and affordable and, in the course of their work, help train a new generation of nuclear engineers for this growing industry."