Dr. Wachs is the National Technical Director for the DOE Advanced Fuels Campiagn (AFC).  AFC integrates the national nuclear fuel research portfolio for both near-term LWR technologies (via the Accident Tolerant Fuels program) and a broad range of Next Generation Fuel (NGF) technologies (including advanced LWR fuels, metallic fuels, coated particle fuels (TRISO), and molten salt fuels) that form the foundation of the emerging nuclear energy ecosystem.  AFC executes research and development activites that support the full lifecycle of nuclear fuel ranging across fabrication, material properties, irradiation performance, safety testing, as well as modeling and simulation.  AFC purposefully integrates with the fissile material supply, reactor design, and used fuel management (both disposition and recycle) efforts within DOE to enhance the overall advanced nuclear energy enterprise.  AFC also collaborates horizontally with partner programs aimed at improving the outcomes of R&D through development of computational infrastructure to deploy and integrate mechanistic material behaviors models, generate additional data streams through advanced instrumentation, and amplification through utilization of emerging AI and ML techniques.

Dr. Wachs has spent over 25 years engaged in nuclear fuel testing and development at the INL.  He’s conducted irradiation tests on nuclear fuels in reactors and hot cells all over the world.  He serves in leadership positions for several international technical collaborations.  Examples  include the chair of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s (NEA) Working Party for Fuels and Materials (WPFM), co-chair of the NEA Framework for Experimental Irradiations (FIDES-II) Technical Adviory Group (TAG), co-chair of the DOE/CEA Working Group on Nuclear Fuels, co-chair of the DOE/JAEA sub-working group on..