- R.C. O'Brien "Porous Nuclear Fuel Formed by Additive Manufacturing, Nuclear Reactor Materials and Related Methods" BA-991 Patent Number 2939-P14093US.
- H. Chu, R.C. O'Brien, M.P. Bakas, S.K. Cook "Large Scale Plasma Sintering of Silicon Carbide Plate" BA-799 Patent Application - No. 2939-P13215US.
- W. Roger Cannon, Rita E. Hoggan, Arnold Erickson, Bryan Forsmann, Robert C. O'Brien &
Paul A. Lessing "Controlled relative humidity storage for high toughness and strength of
binderless green pellets", Journal of the American Ceramics Society, (2017) DOI:
10.1111/jace.14982.
- R.C. O'Brien, N.D. Jerred, "Spark Plasma Sintering of W-UO2 cermets". Journal of Nuclear
Materials. 433 (2013) 50-54.
- R.C. O'Brien, et al., "Spark Plasma Sintering of simulated radioisotope materials in tungsten
cermets". Journal of Nuclear Materials. 393 (2009) 108-113.DOI:
10.1016/j.jnucmat.2009.05.012.
- R. C. O'Brien, et al., "Resumption of Transient Testing at the Idaho National Laboratory Treat
Reactor: Development of Experimental and Analytical Capabilities in Support of the Accident
Tolerant Fuels Campaign." Proceedings of OECD/NEA Workshop on Pellet-Cladding Interaction (PCI) in Water-Cooled Reactors, June 22-24, Lucca, Italy.
- N.E. Woolstenhulme, J.D. Bess, C.B. Davis, G.K. Housley, C.B. Jensen, R.C. O'Brien, and D.M.
Wachs, "TREAT Irradiation Vehicle Designs, Capabilities, And Future Plans", Proceedings of
the PHYSOR-2016 Conference, Sun Valley, Idaho, USA, May 1 – 5, 2016.
- O'Brien, R.C.; Wachs, D.M.; Beasley, A.A. "ATF-3: an overview of the accident tolerant fuels
transient testing campaign in the TREAT reactor" Transactions of the American Nuclear Society,
Volume 112 (2015) Pages: 355-357.
- Woolstenhulme, N.E.; Baker, C.C.; Bess, J.D.; Davis, C.B.; Housley, G.K.; Jensen, C.B.;
O'Brien, R.C.; Snow, S.D. "TREAT experiment vehicle design and future plans" Transactions of
the American Nuclear Society Volume 112 (2015) Pages: 369-71.
- R.C. O'Brien "CSNR-Aerojet Rocketdyne Cermet Fuels Research: Summary & status",
Proceedings of the 2015 Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS 2015) conference,
Albuquerque, NM.
- A.E. Craft, R.C. O'Brien, , S.D. Howe, , J.C. King, "Submersion criticality safety of tungstenrhenium
urania cermet fuel for space propulsion and power applications" Journal of Nuclear
Engineering and Design Volume 273 (2014) Pages 143–149
- Xiaoyu Zhang, James E. O'Brien, Robert C. O'Brien, Joseph J. Hartvigsen, Greg Tao, Gregory K.
Housley, "Improved durability of SOEC stacks for high temperature electrolysis", International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume 38, Issue 1, 11 January 2013, Pages 20–28.
- Xiaoyu Zhang, James E. O'Brien, Robert C. O'Brien, Gregory K. Housley, "Durability evaluation
of reversible solid oxide cells" Journal of Power Sources, Volume 242, (2013) Pages 566–574.
- R.C. O'Brien, "Development of a Radiological Spark Plasma Sintering Facility". Proceedings of:
Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2013), 2013; Albuquerque, NM, USA.
- O'Brien, R.C. ; O'Brien, J. E.; Stoots, C. M.; Zhang, X.; Farmer, S. C.; Cable, T. L.; Setlock, J.
A., "TESTING AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF NASA 5 CM BY 5 CM BISUPPORTED
SOLID OXIDE ELECTROLYSIS CELLS OPERATED IN BOTH FUEL CELL
AND STEAM ELECTROLYSIS MODES" Journal article: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASME
INTERNATIONAL MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CONGRESS AND EXPOSITION, 2011,
VOL 4, PTS A AND B Pages: 513-521 Published: 2012.
- R.C. O'Brien and J.A. Katalenich, "Mixed Americium-Curium Heat Sources for Radioisotope
Heaters and Power Systems", Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 27, No. 5 (2011), pp. 1131-
1134.
- H.R. Williams, J.C. Bridges, R.M. Ambrosi, M.-C. Perkinson, J. Reed, L. Peacocke, N.P.
Bannister, S.D. Howe, R.C. O'Brien, A.C. Klein "Mars reconnaissance lander: Vehicle and
mission design", Journal of Planetary and Space Science Volume 59, Issue 13 ( 2011) Pages
1621–1631.
- Steven D. Howe, Robert C. O'Brien, Richard M. Ambrosi, Brian Gross, Jeff Katalenich, Logan
Sailer, Mark McKay, John C. Bridges, Nigel P. Bannister, "The Mars Hopper: an impulse driven,
long range, long-lived mobile platform utilizing in-situ Martian resources" Acta Astronautica
Volume 69, Issues 11–12(2011) Pages 1050–1056.
- S.D. Howe, R.C. O'Brien R.M. Ambrosi, et al "The Mars Hopper: an impulse-driven, long-range,
long-lived mobile platform utilizing in situ Martian resources", Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Part G, Volume: 225 Issue: G2 Pages: 144-153 Special Issue: SI (2011).
- M.S. Skidmore, R.M. Ambrosi, and R.C. O'Brien, "Neutron sources for in-situ planetary science
applications". Journal of Nuclear Materials. 608 (2009) 403-409.DOI:
10.1016/j.nima.2009.07.011.
- R.C. O'Brien, et al., Fabrication of prismatic fuel elements for space power and nuclear thermal
propulsion reactors by spark plasma sintering". Proceedings of: Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS 2009), Paper Number 206153; June 14‐19, 2009; Atlanta,GA.
- R.C. O'Brien, et al., "Production of safe radioisotope heat sources by Spark Plasma Sintering".
Proceedings of: Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2009), Paper Number
206155; June 14-19, 2009; Atlanta, GA