The Biggest Bang for Your Buck: Pioneering a Nuclear Science Program Guided by Artificial Intelligence

Executive Summary

We will develop novel methods to determine reaction rates on radioactive nuclei by developing new experimental approaches to perform measurements at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams and building a universal capability to compute nuclear data guided by machine learning and artificial intelligence. This will allow us to determine the nuclear reactions that have the greatest impact on our national security applications.

Publications, Presentations, and Patents

Kmak, K.N., J.D. Despotopulos, and N.D. Scielzo. 2023. “Behavior of selenium and arsenic in HCl and HNO3 on TRU, TEVA, DGA, and Pb extraction chromatography resins.” Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 332, 1647-1655. DOI: 10.1007/s10967-023-08904-6

Kmak, K.N., J.D. Despotopulos, and N.D. Scielzo. 2023. “Extraction of selenium and arsenic with TOA-impregnated XAD-2 resin from HCl.” Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 332, 1981-1987. DOI: 10.1007/s10967-023-08818-3

Satija, S. et al. 2023. “Harvesting 88Zr from Heavy-ion Beam Irradiated Tungsten at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory.” Applied Radiation and Isotopes 197, 110831. DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110831

Nicholas Scielzo and Kyle Wendt (Presentation, UC Board of Governors Review Panel on LLNL’s Isotopic Science Core Competency, LLNL, September 18, 2023). 

Kyle Wendt, "AI/ML in Nuclear Physics" (Presentation, PLS AI/ML Strategic Planning Workshop, LLNL, August 22, 2023). 

Andrew Ratkiewicz, "Indirect Constraints of Neutron-Induced Reactions with ISLA at FRIB" (Presentation, Low Energy Community Meeting, FRIB, East Lansing, MI, August 8-11, 2023).

Wei Jia Ong, "Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics" (Presentation, Exotic Beam Summer School, FRIB, East Lansing, MI, July 11-15, 2023). 

Jo Ressler, "Applications and Nuclear Science" (Presentation, Exotic Beam Summer School, FRIB, East Lansing, MI, July 11-15, 2023). 

Kelly Kmak, "Development of techniques for Fabricating Radioactive Targets for Nuclear Data Measurements" (Invited Presentation, Fall 2023 ACS Meeting, San Francisco, CA, August 13-17, 2023). 

Jutta Escher, "Theory at the intersection of direct and compound nuclear reactions" (Presentation, T3 Workshop on Statistical Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics and Applications, Ohio University, Athens, OH, August 13-18, 2023).  

Andrew Ratkiewicz, "Careers in Nuclear Physics at National Laboratories" (Invited Oral Presentation, Indiana University, South Bend, IN, May 13, 2023). 

Kyle Wendt, "Hybrid Algorithms for Low Energy Nuclear Physics"(Presentation, Workshop on “Nuclear and particle physics on a quantum computer: Where do we stand now?” Paris, France June 6-8, 2023). 

Andrew Ratkiewicz, "Surrogate Reactions in the FRIB era" (Presentation, 4th International Conference on Advances in Radioactive Isotope Science, Avignon, France, June 4-9, 2023). 

Andrea Richard, "Impact of the experimentally constrained 102,103Mo(n,y) reaction rates on the Mo, RU, and Rh abundances predicted for the i-process" (Presentation, i-Process Nucleosynthesis Workshop and School, Limassol, Cyprus, May 16-19, 2023). 

Matt Williams –(Presentation, i-Process Nucleosynthesis Workshop and School, Limassol, Cyprus, May 16-19, 2023). 

Kelly Kmak, "Development of chemical procedures for isotope harvesting at FRIB: 73As/73Se" (Presentation, 3rd International Conference on Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Budapest, Hungary, May 7-12, 2023). 

Kyle Wendt, "Covariances and Uncertainty Propagation"(Presentation, Workshop on Applied Nuclear Data Activities (WANDA2023), Washington DC, February 26-March 2, 2023). 

Andrea Richard,  "Experimental Constraints on Statistical Quantities for Nuclear Astrophysics" (Presentation, Workshop on Applied Nuclear Data Activities (WANDA2023), Washington DC, February 26-March 2, 2023). 

Kelly Kmak, "Development of chemical precedures for isotope harvesting at FRIB:172Hf and 73As/73Se" (Presentation, ACS Spring 2023 Meeting: Crossroads of Chemistry, Indianapolis, IN, March 26-30, 2023).