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Summer 2020: Juliana Duarte

Juliana Duarte

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PhD, Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
MS, Electrical Engineering, University of Sao Paulo
BS, Nuclear Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
BS, Physics, State University of Campinas

Email pachecoduarte@vt.edu

How do you see your work contributing to the goals and vision of IIHCC?
IIHCC’s vision is focused on human-centered communities, and energy is an integral part of daily life. For a better community, the energy used must be economic, safe, reliable, and sustainable—not only for this generation but also for future generations. I applied to work for Virginia Tech because I was interested in the university’s likeminded approach to research as a means to improve society and community. Nuclear energy plays an important role in providing a capable and reliable energy source for today and the future societies. However, there are still challenges associated with the long-term storage of nuclear waste. For example, my latest proposal researches the topic of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) dry cask system and the steps that may be taken for a long-term use of these casks. When this system was implemented decades ago, they were designed to ensure integrity for years to come, but now we are interested to further investigate the effects of this system, and if there are better solutions.

What other areas outside of your discipline would you entertain for future research and proposal work?
As of now, I do have a research group comprised of engineers from different fields and physicists who work together. This research group is unique in that because of our different fields and backgrounds in engineering and science, we are able to provide our own perspective and expertise when confronting a new challenge. I am also interested to continue my work with researchers with political science and policy decision-making. In my recent proposal [Investigation of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Dry Cask System for Long-Term Storage] for the IIHCC call for grant proposals, I worked with Sonja Schmid, Associate Professor in the Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS). We come from two different backgrounds (engineering and policy), but we are working towards the same goal of proper and effective nuclear energy usage. Together, we wish to explore areas like risk assessment so that new nuclear energy policy and regulation for nuclear energy is ethically sound and based on intergenerational equity.

Juliana Duarte’s research was featured in a VT News article on August 18, 2020. Read the article.