Daniel Wachs, Ph.D.
Directorate Fellow
Idaho National Laboratory
Dr. Wachs is a directorate fellow in the Idaho National Laboratory's Nuclear Fuels and Materials Division. He has led a wide variety of advanced nuclear fuel research activities, including irradiation testing, post-irradiation examination, fuel performance modeling, fuel fabrication, and nuclear fuel technology licensing over his 25 year career at INL.
Dr. Wachs is the National Technical Director for the U.S. DOE Advanced Fuels Campaign. In this role he is responsible for both the Accident Tolerant Fuels Program and the metallic alloy fuel development program (which is the reference fuel for US sodium-cooled fast reactors).
From 2011 – 2020 he was the scientific lead for the U.S. "Resumption of Transient Testing" program that ultimately led to restart of the TREAT reactor in 2017 and established its R&D program. Today, a broad range of nuclear technology R&D programs use the facility to support a diverse community of scientists and engineers.
From 2004-2014, he lead the US R&D program tasked with development of high density LEU fuel systems to enable conversion of research and test reactors worldwide from HEU to LEU.