Linda Morris, STC-HPS Student Assistance Committee Chair

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently issued a construction permit to Abilene Christian University (ACU) to build a molten salt-cooled research reactor on its campus. The one Megawatt (1MW) reactor is the first reactor of its kind licensed by the NRC as well as the first new research reactor to be licensed in decades. The project is being sponsored by the Natura Resources Research Alliance (NRRA), a consortium among ACU, Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University and The University of Texas at Austin. The reactor will be built on the ACU campus at the Dillard Science and Engineering Research Center and will be part of the Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing (NEXT) Laboratory. The ACU Department of Physics will play an important role in the project. Since the department does not have graduate degree programs, undergraduate physics students will have front-row seats for this exciting development. The department has an active Society for Physics Students (SPS) chapter as well as a more recent American Nuclear Society student section. On October 23rd, STC Student Assistance Chair Linda Morris visited with the students at a departmental lunch function. She presented information on the field of health physics as well as opportunities that come with student membership in the STC. Linda invited the faculty and students to attend the 2025 STC Student Paper Conference in College Station, TX on April 11-12th. She expressed the strong interest that STC members have in this project, and that it would be a great opportunity for the ACU students to meet other Texas students with similar interests.