Call for Papers

Please contact the symposium organizers with questions.

Actinide materials exhibit an unusually large range of unique physical and chemical properties that include electronic, transport, and magnetic properties. The unique characteristics of actinides stem, in part, from the complexities of their 5f electronic structure, and have opened avenues for the application of actinide materials in many diverse fields ranging from space exploration, neutron detectors, and medical diagnostics. The most prominent application of actinides, however, is in nuclear energy since actinides form the backbone of current and emerging nuclear fission technologies for energy production. With a global concerted effort of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, advanced nuclear energy technologies are expected to play a vital role in the worldwide energy economy. The success of implementing next-generation nuclear energy technologies relies on key breakthroughs and fundamental discoveries in the physical and chemical behavior of actinide materials. This symposium will focus on the physics, chemistry, and materials science of actinide materials that can enable innovative nuclear energy technologies. Particular emphasis will be laid on novel experimental and modeling approaches that uncover new phenomena at rapid times scales and small length scales, 5f magnetic and electronic behaviors, chemical segregation and radiation damage, and property evolution under extreme temperature, pressure, and radiation extremes.

Topics will include:

• Advanced first-principles modeling and simulation approaches that address many-body effects in actinides
• Novel synthesis methods of actinide materials
• Emergent behaviors of 5f-electron systems at low temperatures and high magnetic fields.
• Large-scale experiments that utilize state-of-the-art photon or X-ray sources for advanced material characterizations
• Defect evolution and chemical segregation in nuclear materials using ultrahigh-resolution microscopy
• Thermal, magnetic, optical, and electronic properties of actinides with potential for advanced nuclear fuel properties

Invited Speakers:

• Assel Aitkaliyeva (University of Florida, USA)
• Lucia Amidani (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France)
• Nicholas Butch (National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA)
• Lionel Desgranges (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, France)
• Daniel Gregg (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Australia)
• Jean-Christophe Griveau (European Commission, Germany)
• Yoshinori Haga (Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Japan)
• Mingda Li (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
• J. Matthew Mann (Air Force Research Laboratory, USA)
• Binod Rai (Savannah River National Laboratory, USA)
• James Tobin (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, USA)
• Floriana Tuna (University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
• Kevin Vallejo (Idaho National Laboratory, USA)
• Tonya Vitova (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
• Yanwen Zhang (Idaho National Laboratory, USA)

Symposium Organizers