Researcher

Jess Gehin

Associate laboratory director, Nuclear Science and Technology

Research Areas:

Biography:

Dr. Jess Gehin is the associate lab director for the Nuclear Science and Technology directorate. Gehin originally joined INL in 2018 as the chief scientist for the NS&T directorate, bringing nearly 30 years of experience in reactor core physics and technologies to the lab. He also serves as the National Technical Director of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Microreactor Program. His research interests include nuclear reactor physics and reactor and fuel cycle technologies, and he has broad experience in the development and use of reactors for a range of applications including electricity production, heat production, materials production and research with specific expertise in modeling and simulation to support reactor design, operation and safety analysis.
Gehin worked at ORNL from 1992 to 2018, where he held several positions, including Director of the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL). CASL is a DOE Energy Innovation Hub located at ORNL. In that role, Gehin held leadership responsibilities for reactor technology integration, nuclear energy programs, and reactor analysis. His academic experience includes previous positions as Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee and in teaching and advising students.
Gehin earned a B.S. degree in nuclear engineering from Kansas State University and S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gehin is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society.

Education:

Ph.D., nuclear engineering – Massachusetts Institute of Technology

M.S., nuclear engineering – Massachusetts Institute of Technology

B.S., nuclear engineering – Kansas State University

Publications:

A. Louis Qualls, et al [Jess C. Gehin] “Preconceptual design of a fluoride high temperature salt-cooled engineering demonstration reactor: Motivation and overview,” Annals of Nuclear Energy, 107, 144-155 (2017).

Brendan Kochunas, et al. [Jess Gehin], “VERA Core Simulator methodology for pressurized water reactor cycle depletion,” Nuclear Science and Engineering, 185(1), 217-231 (2017)

J. C. Gehin, Jeffrey J. Powers, “Liquid Fuel Molten Salt Reactors for Thorium Utilization,” Nuclear Technology, 192(2), 152-161 (2016).

N.R. Brown, J.J. Powers, B. Feng, F. Heidet, N.E. Stauff, G. Zhang, M. Todosow, A. Worrall, J.C. Gehin, T.K. Kim, T.A. Taiwo, “Sustainable thorium nuclear fuel cycles: A comparison of intermediate and fast neutron spectrum Systems,” Nuclear Engineering and Design, 289, 252–265 (2015).

Nathan George, Ivan Maldonado, Kurt Terrani, Andrew Godfrey, Jess Gehin, Jeff Powers, Andrew Worrall, “Neutronics Studies of Uranium-Bearing Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuel for Pressurized Water Reactors,” Nuclear Technology, 88, pp 228-251 (Dec 2014).

S.J. Zinkle, K.A. Terrani, J.C. Gehin, L.J. Ott, L.L. Snead, “Accident tolerant fuels for LWRs: A perspective,” Journal of Nuclear Materials, 448(2014), pp 374-379 (May 2014).

Cole Gentry, Ivan Maldonado, Andrew Godfrey, Kurt Terrani, Jess Gehin, Jeffrey Powers, “A Neutronic Investigation of the Use of Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuel for Pu/Np Burning in PWRs,” Nuclear Technology, 186(1), pp 60-75 (April 2014).

Ling Zou, Hongbin Zhang, Jess Gehin, Brendan Kochunas, “Coupled Thermal-Hydraulic/Neutronics/Crud Framework in Prediction of Crud-Induced Power Shift Phenomenon,” Nuclear Technology, 183(3), pp 535-542 (September 2013).

Kurt A.Terrani, Lance L, Snead, Jess C. Gehin, “Microencapsulated fuel technology for commercial light water and advanced reactor application,” Journal of Nuclear Materials, 427(1-3),pp 209-224 (August 2012).

Dean Wang et al. [Jess C. Gehin coauthor], “Study of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 4 Spent-Fuel Pool,” Nuclear Technology, 180(2) pp 205-215 (November 2012)

J. J. Klingensmith, Y. Y. Azmy, J. C. Gehin and R. Orsi, “Tort solutions to the three-dimensional MOX benchmark, 3-D Extension C5G7MOX,” Progress in Nuclear Energy, 48(5), pp 445-455 (July 2006).

Y. Y. Azmy, J. C. Gehin, and R. Orsi, “DORT Solutions to the Two-Dimensional C4G7 MOX Benchmark Problem,” Progress in Nuclear Energy, 45(2-4), pp 215-231 (2004).

K. Hesketh, G. Schlosser, D. F. Porsch, T. Wolf, O. Köberl, B. T. Lance, R. Chawla, J. C. Gehin, R. Ellis, S. Uchikawa, O. Sato, T. Okubo, H. Mineo, T. Yamamoto, Y. Sagayama, and E. Sartori, “Plutonium Management in the Medium Term,” Nuclear Technology, 148(3), pp 244-258 (December 2004).

Awards:

2016 R&D 100 Award for the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications

2016 Fellow, American Nuclear Society “For outstanding and effective technical leadership in cross-disciplinary teams providing next-generation analysis capabilities for nuclear reactors and influencing decisions for advanced reactors and nuclear fuel cycle research and development”

2014 UT-Battelle Awards Night Award for 2014 Mentor of Student Researchers

2014 U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle Research and Development Technical Achievement Award (Team) for Outstanding Achievement of Completion of Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening

2014 International Data Corporation High Performance Computing Innovation Excellence Award for Applications of HPC for nuclear reactor simulation

2013 UT-Battelle Significant Event Award for Completion of Categorization of Used Nuclear Fuel Inventory in Support of a Comprehensive National Nuclear Fuel Cycle Strategy

2012 American Nuclear Society Materials Science and Technology Division 2012 Significant Contribution Award for “Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuels for LWRs”

2012 Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dr. Peter Lyons Recognition for Contributions to the U.S. DOE Response to the 2011 Fukushima Dia-chi Event.

2011 UT-Battelle Significant Event Award for Support to DOE in Response to Crisis at Fukushima Dai-ichi Damaged Reactors

2010 UT-Battelle Awards Night Legacy Impact Award for successfully capturing the Department of Energy’s first Energy Innovation Hub Award

2007 ANS President’s Recognition Award for Serving as Technical Program Chair of the 2007 Winter American Nuclear Society Meeting.

2007 ANS President’s Recognition Award for Serving as Assistant Technical Program Chair of the 2007 Annual American Nuclear Society meeting.

1997 Lockheed Martin Energy Research Awards Night Technical Achievement Award for developing the HASCAL computer code, which estimates atmospheric dispersion of radioactivity following possible accidents or terrorist/military incidents at nuclear facilities

1996 Significant Event Award (SEA) for support to Department of Defense

1994 Engineering Physics and Mathematics Division Extra-Effort Award

1993 Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) Project Extra-Kilometre Award for Development of advanced fuel grading design

1988 Kansas State University Department of Nuclear Energy Fermi Hatchet Award as top Nuclear Engineering 1988 Graduate.

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