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HT3R

10/3/2011: Full-ride scholarships available for students in college at the sophomore level and above. Completed college freshmen (sophomores to be) as well as juniors and seniors should fill out this form: HT3R Sophomore Plus Scholarship Application.

9/15/2010: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and UTPB form a cooperative agreement for Green Freedom research and development.

06/27/2008: Full-ride scholarships available for students starting college in the Fall. College freshmen as well as high school seniors planning for college in the following year, should fill out this form: HT3R Scholarship Application

 The Project

We're Not Just a Reactor - we're a Generation IV (GEN-IV) Teaching and Reactor Technology Development Program!
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) High-Temperature Teaching and Test Reactor (HT3R) Energy Research Program is an important national energy security asset that will help lead the US and world to an energy-sufficient future! As the name implies, its purpose is to 1) Provide a pipeline of highly-trained engineers and scientist to the National Laboratories, the energy industry, and U.S. governmental agencies; plus 2) Establish, with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a Generation IV (GEN-IV) technology research, development and test center for diverse energy systems with a primary mission to develop a modern architectural framework for the design, licensing, and deployment of advanced (Gen-IV) technologies and reactor systems.

The base technology that will be used to accomplish this mission is the GEN-IV High-Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR), which has the capability to adequately address the urgent shortages in energy for both our transportation and fixed-based needs. If funding becomes available, the HT3R Research and Test Reactor Facility is proposed to be constructed in Andrews County no later than 2015 and be owned and operated by a LLC that somehow involves both UTPB and LANL in its operations. A Pre-Conceptual Design for this facility was completed in 2007 by a team led by UTPB and General Atomics, with assistance from O'Donnell Engineers, Inc, and the University of Texas at Austin Mechanical Engineering Department. In the interim, non-nuclear experimental and computer simulation will be used as we start to address these important technical goals.

Academic support for UTPB students in this program is primarily available through scholarships and internships provided by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), with additional supplemental support coming from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and UTPB scholarship funds. Contact the HT3R Project Office if you wish to provide any form of assistance through either scholarships or other programmatic support for research and development. If you are a student seeking information about financial aid in this program, please navigate to the top of this page and follow the link to, and complete, the HT3R Scholarship Application Request form.

Why a GEN-IV Technology Research & Test Facility!
As set forth in the Department of Energy's Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), the very high operating temperature of GEN-IV reactors can address key energy security and environmental problems in the United States and world today. The HT3R teaching and test facility that will help train the next generation of scientists and engineers on how to operate these new "passively safe" nuclear reactors that can generate electricity at efficiencies above 50% while not emitting green-house gases. Additionally, the excess high-temperature process heat from these reactors is sufficient to economically create hydrogen from water, synthetic hydrocarbon fuels from coal and long-chain hydrocarbons, plus desalinate brackish water.

We're Located in a Region that Knows about Nuclear!
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) has campuses in both Ector and Midland County and is located near the center of our country's largest on-shore oil and gas production center called the Permian Basin. Our campuses are also within 150 miles of several important nuclear facilities including:

  1. Waste Control Specialists, LLC in nearby Andrews County, Texas, has applied for licenses to treat, store and dispose low-level nuclear, and mixed, waste.
  2. The LES National Enrichment Facility (NEF) adjacent to WCS but in Lea County, New Mexico that is the first privately owned uranium enrichment facility that will prepare feedstock for nuclear reactor fuel.
  3. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Eddy County, New Mexico, which is an underground disposal site for nuclear waste derived from the development, manufacturing and maintenance of the United States nuclear weapon stockpile.
  4. Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring & Research Center (CEMRC) also in Eddy County, New Mexico that is responsible for monitoring the environment within 100 miles of WIPP.

The HT3R has strong support from the residents of west Texas residing in Andrews, Ector, and Midland Counties in the form of almost $1.6 million in seed money for this project. In addition to LANL, other collaborators are the University of Texas System, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Dallas, and University of Texas at El Paso.

We would like to welcome you to our HT3R website and to the new and exciting world of advanced nuclear energy technology. We hope you will navigate around this website to learn more about this important project.

Organization of this Web Site

  1. Home - This page is the introduction to the HT3R website.
  2. Description - This Section will provide a general description of the Facility.
  3. Project Team - This Section will provide information about the Regional Team that has been organized to support and drive this Project. This Section will also include information about Public Forums and Meetings organized, or held, by the Project Team Members.
  4. Why Now! - This Section outlines why this HT3R Energy Research Facility is needed now.
  5. Technologies - The purpose of this Section is to educate the general public about radiation.
  6. Funding - This Section will indicate how donations can be given to help the project. Every contribution counts and this Project will be funded by individuals, civic organizations, industry, the State of Texas, and the federal government.
  7. Contact - This is where you can find how to ask us questions and send us checks.