Nuclear Technology Materials U.S. Patents
Joining and sealing pressurized ceramic structures
J. D. Sheeder, J. Zhang, C. P. Deck, H. E. Khalifa, R. W. Stemke, B. S. Austin, G. Vasudevamurthy, C. Bacalski, E. Song, C. A. Black, US Patent US11881322B2 (2021)

Producing high purity hydrogen and carbon monoxide from a hydrocarbon material
J. Zhang, J. D. Sheeder, R. S. Schleicher, J. Opperman, US Patent US11787694B2 (2021)

Silicon to silicon carbide conversion for ceramic matrix composite fabrication
J. Zhang, A. Travis, J. Opperman, G. Jacobsen, US Patent US12054433B2 (2020)

Engineered SiC-SiC composite and monolithic SiC layered structures
C. P. Deck, J. Zhang, C. A. Back, J. D. Sheeder, US Patent US12417853B2 (2019)

High Durability Joint between Ceramic Articles, and Methods
 H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck and C. A. Back, US Patent US9132619B2 (2013)

Modular nuclear fission waste conversion reactor
R.W. Schleicher, H. Choi, A. M. Baxter US Patent US9767926B2 (2011)

Nuclear Technology Materials Press Releases/Blogs
General Atomics Onshores Critical Silicon Carbide Technology to Help Power America's Nuclear Future (2026)

General Atomics Achieves Another Milestone in Silicon Carbide Composite Nuclear Fuel Rod Technology  (2025)

General Atomics Successfully Tests Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Reactor Fuel at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (2025)

This New Fuel Cladding Could Transform Nuclear Fuels U.S. DOE (2024)

General Atomics Completes SiGA Cladded Nuclear Fuel Rod Irradiation Testing (2024)

General Atomics Creating "Nuclear Fuel Digital Twin" to Accelerate Silicon Carbide Cladding Technology Testing, Qualification (2024)

General Atomics Initiates Irradiation Testing of Nuclear Fuel Cladding Technology (2024)
General Atomics Signs a Memorandum of Understanding With Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (2024)

General Atomics Awarded DOE Contract To Develop Silicon Carbide Materials for Fusion Power Plants (2024)

General Atomics Awarded Conceptual Design Contract Supporting Sandia National Laboratories (2023)

General Atomics Completes DRACO Nuclear Thermal Propulsion System Design and Test Milestone (2022)

General Atomics Selected for the Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Concepts-20 Program (2021)

General Atomics and Framatome Collaborate to Develop a Fast Modular Reactor (2020)

General Atomics Delivers Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Concept to NASA (2020)
General Atomics Integrates Nuclear Technologies and Materials Division into Electromagnetics Systems Group (2020)

General Atomics and Framatome Join Forces on Nuclear Reactor Channel Boxes (2020)
General Atomics Joins the Nuclear Energy Institute in Support of a Department of Defense Micro-Reactor Program (2018)

Energy Secretary Visits General Atomics (2018)

General Atomics Awarded DOE Funding to Pursue Advanced Reactor Research (2018)

General Atomics Featured In Senate Hearing On Advanced Reactor Research And Future Of Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2017)

General Atomics: U.S. Must Put Higher Emphasis On "Leapfrog Technologies" In Advanced Reactor Research (2016)

General Atomics: Modernize the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to best jumpstart research (2016)

General Atomics Physicist at White House Energy Summit (2015)

General Atomics Receives DOE/NNSA Funding to Advance U.S. Produced Supply of Medical Isotopes (2015)

Journal Articles
Note: * indicates General Atomics is first author

*Progress in Fast Modular Reactor Conceptual Design H. Choi, J. Bolin, O. Gutierrez, R. Curiac, M. Alavi, M. Virgen, E. Chin, J. Beaver, P. Brocheny, G. Beausoleil, A. M. Yacout, S. Rodriguez, M. Corradini, D. Kim, S. L. Krahn, E. Thornsbury, Nuclear Technology (2025)

*Irradiation Testing and Scaling Progress on General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems’ Silicon Carbide Cladding Technology (SiGA®) S. Gonderman, D. Frazer, L. Borowski, R. Haefelfinger, M. Alavi, A. Sathrum, R. Hon, S. Oswald, A. Giles, W. Campbell, et al. Proceedings of the Proceedings of Top Fuel 2025 Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference, (2025)

*Multiscale Modeling and Characterization Strategy Accelerating Development of Nuclear Grade Silicon Carbide Composites. J. Kosmatka, C. Ellis, G. Singh, K. Gamble. Proceedings of Top Fuel 2025 Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference (2025)

* Multiscale Modeling of The Mechanical Response of Silicon Carbide Composite Within the Accelerated Fuel Qualification Framework G. M.  Jacobsen, C. Ellis, J. Kosmatka, H. Shatoff, P. Mijatovic, R. Lebensohn, J. Capolungo, K. Spilker, K. Gamble, G. Singh, J. Hales, C. A. Back. Nuclear Technology, (2025)

A mean field homogenization model for the mechanical response of ceramic matrix composites, K. Spilker, R. Lebensohn, G. Jacobsen, L. Capolungo, Vol 352, Composite Structures (2025)

Hermeticity of SiC/SiC composite and monolithic SiC tubes irradiated under radial high-heat flux T. Koyanagi, Et al. J. of Nuclear Materials, Vol 588 (2024)

Mechanical degradation of duplex SiC-fiber reinforced SiC matrix composite tubes under a controlled high-temperature steam environment T. Koyanagi, C. Hawkins, B. Lamm, E. Lara-Curzio, C. Deck, Y. Katoh, Ceramics International, Vol 50(4), (2024)

Development of a Benchmark for Thermal Striping in Gas-Cooled Fast Reactors  J. Acierno, E Merzari, L. Burnett, Y. Jin, E Baglietto, H. Choi Nuclear Technology (2024)

Steady-state fuel performance analyses for the preliminary fuel concept of general atomics fast modular reactor Y. Miao, A. Oaks, S. Shu, S. Lee, A. Yacout, O. Gutierrez, H. Choi Journal of Nuclear Materials (2024)

Literature Review of Preliminary Initiating Events for a Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Conceptual Design S. Krahn, M. Harkema, I. Ibrahim, H. Choi, J. Bolin, E. Thornsbury, Proceedings of the Advanced Reactor Safety Conference Las Vegas, NV (2024)

In situ high-temperature 3D imaging of the damage evolution in a SiC nuclear fuel cladding material, G. Yuan, J. P. Forna-Kreutzer, P. Xu, S. Gonderman, C. Deck, L. Olson, E. Lahoda, R. O. Ritchie, D. Liu. Materials & Design 227 (2023)

Multi-Scale Characterization of Porosity and Cracks in Silicon Carbide Cladding after Transient Reactor Test Facility Irradiation F. Xu, T. Yao, P.  Xu, J. L. Schulthess, D. M. Matos, S. Gonderman, J. Gazza, J. J. Kane, N. L. Cordes, Energies, 17-1 (2023)

The response of accident tolerant fuel cladding to LOCA burst testing: A comparative study of leading concepts, K.Kane, Et al. J. of Nuclear Materials, Vol 574 (2023)

Stress rupture of SiC/SiC composite tubes under high‐temperature steam T. Koyanagi, O. Karakoc, C. Hawkins, E. Lara‐Curzio, C. Deck, T. Katoh. International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology, 20- 3, (2023)

*Preliminary Neutronics Design and Analysis of the Fast Modular Reactor H. Choi, D. Leer, M. Virgen, O. Gutierrez, J. Bolin, Nuclear Science and Engineering, 197:8, (2023)

*Fabrication and Characterization of Zirconium Silicide for Application to Gas-Cooled Fast Reactors G. M. Jacobsen, H. Choi, J. A. Turso, A. Johnsen, A. Bascom, X. Wei, E. Olevsky, Nuclear Technology, Vol 208 (2022)

Influence of weave architecture on mechanical response of SiCf-SiCm tubular composites J. Nance, G. Subhash, B. Sankar, N. Kim, C. Deck, S. Oswald Materials Today Communications, Vol 33 (2022)

Advanced Crack Analytics on 3D X-ray Tomography of Irradiated Silicon Carbide Claddings Xu, Fei, Joshua J. Kane, P. Xu, N. Cordes, J. L. Schulthess, M. N. Cinbiz, S. Gonderman, C. Deck, J. Gazza, Microscopy and Microanalysis, 28-S1, (2022)

Preconceptual Design of Multifunctional Gas-Cooled Cartridge Loop for the Versatile Test Reactor - Part I P. Sabharwall, Et al. Nuclear Science and Engineering 186, (2022)

*Conceptual design of gas cartridge loop components for the Versatile Test Reactor
H. Choi, L. V. Nguyen, M. Alavi, J. Lowe, A. James, J. Bolin, C. Fu, and C. Ellis, Nuclear Engineering and Design 389 (2022)

Thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of SiC composite tubes: the effects of microstructure and irradiation T. Koyanagi, Et al. J. of Nuclear Materials, Vol 557 (2021)

*Evaluation of silicon carbide as a divertor armor material in DIII-D H-mode discharges
T. Abrams, S. Bringuier, D. M. Thomas, G. Sinclair, S. Gonderman, L. Holland, D. L. Rudakov, R. S. Wilcox, E. A. Unterberg, and F. Scotti, Nuclear Fusion, Vol 61-6, (2021)

Quantifying erosion and retention of silicon carbide due to D plasma irradiation in a high-flux linear plasma device G. Sinclair, T. Abrams, S. Bringuier, D. M. Thomas, L. Holland, S. Gonderman, J.H. Yu, R. P. Doerner, Nuclear Materials and Energy, 26, (2021)

*Feasibility study of a gas cartridge loop for the versatile test reactor  H. Choi, R. W. Schleicher, K. Shapovalov, C. Ellis, J. Bolin Nuclear Engineering & Design, Vol 377 (2021)

Accelerating nuclear fuel development and qualification: Modeling and simulation integrated with separate-effects testing K. A. Terrani, N. A. Capps, M. J. Kerr, C. A. Back, A. T. Nelson, B.. D. Wirth, Stephen L. Hayes, Chris R. Stanek, Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol 539, (2020)

*Performance Analysis of Silicon Carbide Composite Clad Uranium Carbide Fuel for a Long-Life Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Under Normal Operation—Part I: Design Criteria and Material Data. H. Choi, R.W. Schleicher, and J. Bolin, Nuclear Technology (2020)

Consolidation of Molybdenum nanopowders by spark plasma sintering: Densification mechanism and first mirror application G. Lee, C. Maniere, J. McKittrick, R. Doerner, D. Nishijima, A. Gaattuso, T. Abrams, D. Thomas, C. Back, E. A. Olevsky, J. Nucl. Mat. Vol 516, (2019)

*Atomic insight into concurrent He, D, and T sputtering and near-surface implantation of 3C-SiC crystallographic surfaces S. Bringuier, T. Abrams, J. Guterl, G. Vasudevamurthy, E. Unterberg, D. Rudakovd, L. Holland, Nuclear Materials and Energy Vol 19 (2019)

Deuterium retention in silicon carbide, SiC ceramic matrix composites, and SiC coated graphite M. Koller, J. Davis, M. Goodland, T. Abrams, S. Gonderman, G. Herdrich, M. Friess, C. Zuber, Nuclear Materials and Energy 20 (2019)

*C-ring testing of nuclear grade silicon carbide composites at temperatures up to 1900C
K. Shapovalov, G. M. Jacobsen, C. Shih, C. P. Deck, Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol 522, (2019)

Phase stability of SiC/SiC fiber reinforced composites: The effect of processing on the formation of α and β phases, U. Santoro, E. Novitskaya, K. Karandikar, H. E. Khalifa, O. A. Graeve Materials Letters Vol 241 (2019)

Effect of electric current on densification behavior of conductive ceramic powders consolidated by spark plasma sintering  G. Lee, E. A. Olevsky, C. Maniere, A. Maximenko, O. Izhvanov, C. Back, J. McKittrick J. Nucl. Mat. Vol 144, (2018)

*Strength of SiCf-SiCm composite tube under uniaxial and multiaxial loading
K. Shapovalov, G. M. Jacobsen, L. Alva, N. Truesdale, C. P. Deck, X. Huang, Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol 500, (2018)

Interlaboratory round robin study on axial tensile properties of SiC-SiC CMC tubular test specimens G. Singh, S. Gonczy, C. Deck, E. Lara-Curzio, Y. Katoh, Int J Appl Ceram Technol., Vol 15-6, (2018)

*Evaluation of Carbide Fuel Property and Model Using Measurement Data from Early Experiments H. Choi, Nuclear Technology, 204, (2018)

*Benchmarking DRAGON/PARCS Against KRITZ and FFTF Measurements, H. Choi, M. Choi, R. Hon, Nuclear Technology (2018)

*EM2 (General Atomics, USA), in Advances in Small Modular Reactor Technology Developments, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria, pp. 183-186  (2018)

Experimental design and analysis for irradiation of SiC/SiC composite tubes under a prototypic high heat flux  C. Petrie, T. Koyanagi, J. McDuffee, C. Deck, Y. Katoh, K. Terrani.
J. Nucl. Mat., Vol 491, (2017)

Quantifying the three dimensional damage and stress redistribution mechanisms of braided SiC/SiC composites by in situ volumetric digital image correlation  B. Croom, P. Xu, E. Lahoda, C. Deck, X. Li. Scripta Materialia, vol.130 (2017)

Ceramic composites: A review of toughening mechanisms and demonstration of micropillar compression for interface property extraction  J. Kabel, P. Hosemann, Y. Zayachuk, D. Armstrong, T. Koyanagi, Y. Katoh, C. Deck, C. J. Mater. Res., v.33, n.4, (2017)

Effects of loading modes on densification efficiency of spark plasma sintering: sample study of zirconium carbide consolidation X. Wei, A. L. Maximenko, C. Back, O. Izhvanov, and E. A. Olevsky, Philosophical Magazine Letters. xx (2017)

*ASTM C1862: Nominal Joint Strength of End-Plug Joints in Advanced Ceramic Tubes at Ambient and Elevated Temperatures Jacobsen, G.M., Gonczy S., ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, (2017)

*Radiation Stable Hybrid Chemical Vapor Infiltration/Preceramic Polymer Joining of Silicon Carbide Components H. E. Khalifa, T. Koyanagi, G. M. Jacobsen, C. P. Deck and C. A. Back, J. Nucl. Mater. 487 (2017)

*The Energy Multiplier Module (EM2): Status of Conceptual Design H. Choi, R. W. Schleicher, Nuclear Technology, 200, (2017)

Zirconium Carbide Produced by Spark Plasma Sintering and Hot Pressing: Densification Kinetics, Grain Growth and Thermal Properties X. Wei, C. Back, O. Izhvanov, C. D. Haines, E. Olevsky, Materials  9(7) (2016)

*Fabrication and Testing of Complex Silicon Carbide Composite Structures
 H.E. Khalifa, C.P. Shih, G.M. Jacobsen, C.P. Deck, Trans. Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 114, New Orleans, La., (2016)

*High Temperature Testing of Geometrically Relevant, Nuclear Grade, Silicon Carbide Joints Jacobsen, G.M., Khalifa, H.E., Kearns, Y., Gutierrez, O., Deck C.P., Trans of the Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 113 (2015)

Spark Plasma Sintering of Agglomerated Vanadium Carbide Powder
 Wei Li, E.A. Olevsky, O.L. Khasanov, C.A. Back, O. Izhvanov, J. Opperman, H.E. Khalifa
Ceramics International, vol. 41, (2015).

Spark Plasma Sintering of Commercial Zirconium Carbide powders X. Wei, C. Back, O. Izhvanov, O. Khasanov, C. Haines, E. Olevsky, Materials, vol. 8(9), (2015)

Experimental study of thermo-mechanical behavior of SiC composite tubing under high temperature gradient using solid surrogate  L. Alva, K. Shapovalov, G. M. Jacobsen, C. A. Back, X. Huang, J. Nucl. Mater., vol. 466, (2015)

*Fabrication and characterization of joined silicon carbide cylindrical components for nuclear applications H. E. Khalifa, C.P. Deck, O. Guierrez, G.M. Jacobsen, C.A. Back, Journal of Nuclear Materials, vol. 457, (2015)

*Stress analysis and probabilistic assessment of multi-layer SiC-based accident tolerant nuclear fuel cladding J. Stone, R. Schleicher, C. P. Deck, G. M. Jacobsen, H. E. Khalifa, C. A. Back, J. Nucl. Mater., vol. 466, (2015)

*Characterization of SiC–SiC composites for accident tolerant fuel cladding  C. P. Deck, G. M. Jacobsen, J. Sheeder, O. Gutierrez, J. Zhang, J. Stone, H. E. Khalifa, C. A. Back, J. Nucl. Mater., vol. 466, (2015)

Localized mechanical property assessment of SiC/SiC composite materials  D. Frazer, M. D. Abad, D. Krumwiede, C. A. Back, H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck, P. Hosemann, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, vol. 70, (2015)

Development of an Iterative Diffusion-Transport Method Based on MICROX-2 Cross Section Libraries J. Hou, H. Choi, K. N. Ivanov, Annals of Nuclear Energy, 77, (2015)

*Progress on the Design and Development of EM2 R. Schleicher, C. A. Back, H. Choi  19th Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference Proceedings, Canadian Nuclear Society, (2014)

Comparison of Shear Strength of Ceramic Joints Determined by Various Test Methods with Small Specimens  C. Shih, Y. Katoh, J. O. Kiggans, T. Koyanagi, H. E. Khalifa, C. A. Back, T. Hinoki, and M. Ferraris, Ceramic Materials for Energy Applications IV, H.-T. Lin, Y. Katoh and J. Matyáš, eds., 38th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, Daytona Beach, Fla., John Wiley & Sons. (2014)

Nano/micro scale Characterization of SiC/SiC Composite Materials  D. Frazer, P. Hosemann, C. A. Back, C. Deck, H. Khalifa, Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 18 (suppl. 2) (2014)

*SiC-SiC Cladding for Light Water Reactors  C. A. Back, E. Lahoda, Proceedings of the Water Reactor Fuel Performance Meeting/Top Fuel/LWR Fuel Performance Meeting, Sendai, Japan, (2014)

High Pressure Burst Testing of SiCf-SiCm Composite Nuclear Fuel Cladding  L. H. Alva, X. Huang, G. M. Jacobsen and C. A. Back, in Jin, H., Sciammarella, C., Yoshida, S., Lamberti, L., eds., Advancement of Optical Methods in Experimental Mechanics, vol. 3, Springer (2014)

Multi-Scale Characterization of SIC/SiC Composite Materials  D. Frazer, M. D. Abad, C. Back, C. Deck, P. Hosemann, in T. Sano, T.S. Srivatsan and M. W. Paretti, eds., Advanced Composites for Aerospace, Marine, and Land Applications, Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, N.J., (2014)

*Investigation of the C-ring Test for Measuring Hoop Tensile Strength of Nuclear Grade Ceramic Composites G. M. Jacobsen, J. D. Stone, H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck and C. A. Back, J. Nucl. Mater., vol. 452, (2014)

*Permeability Measurements for SiC Ceramic Matrix Composites Relevant to LWR
 O. Gutierrez, H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck, C. A. Back and R. Schleicher, Trans. of the Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 110, (2014)

*Design and Development of EM2  R. W. Schleicher, T Bertch, ASME 2014 Small Modular Reactors Symposium Washington, D.C. (2014)

*Out-of-pile Characterization and Testing of Joined Cylindrical Components for SiC-based Nuclear Fuel Cladding H.E. Khalifa, G.M. Jacobsen, O. Gutierrez, C.A. Back, Trans. Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 109,  (2013)

*Tensile Strength of Tubular SiC-SiC Composites for use in Nuclear Cladding  G.M. Jacobsen, H.E. Khalifa, C.A. Back, Trans Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 109, (2013)

*Modeling Forced Flow Chemical Vapor Infiltration Fabrication of SiC-SiC Composites for Advanced Nuclear Reactors C. P. Deck, H. E. Khalifa, B. Sammuli and C. A. Back, Sci. and Tech. of Nucl. Installations, (2013)

*Energy Multiplier Module (EM2) – Advancing the Nuclear Fuel Cycle through Technology Innovations R. W. Schleicher, H. Choi, J. Rawls, Nuclear Technology, 184, (2013)

*A Compact Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor with an Ultra-long Fuel Cycle  H. Choi, R. W. Schleicher, and P. Gupta, Sci. and Tech. of Nucl. Installations (2013)

Nano/micro Scale Characterization of SiC/SiC Composite Materials  D. Frazer, P. Hosemann, C. A. Back, C. Deck, H. Khalifa, Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 18, no. S2, (2012)

*Fabrication of SiC-SiC Composites for Fuel Cladding in Advanced Reactor Designs
C. P. Deck, H. E. Khalifa, B. Sammuli, T. Hilsabeck, C. A. Back, Prog. Nucl. Energ., vol. 57, (2012)

*Effects of Structure and Processing on the Thermal Conductivity of SiC-SiC Composites C. P. Deck, H. E. Khalifa, and C. A.. Back, 2012., Trans. Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 106, (2012)

*Silicon Carbide Composite Fabrication and Mechanical and Thermal Performance for Nuclear Reactor Applications H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck, K. C. Chen, and C. A. Back, Fusion Sci. and Tech., vol. 61, no. 1T, (2012)

*Energy Multiplier Module (EM2) - Capping the Waste Problem and Using the Energy in U-238  J. Parmentola, J. Rawls, Fusion Sci. and Tech., (2012)

*Configuring EM2 to Meet the Challenges of Economics, Waste Disposition, and Non-Proliferation Confronting Nuclear Energy in the U. S.  R. Schleicher, C. Back, Fusion Sci. and Tech. (2012)

*Advanced Fuel Cycle Scenarios for High Temperature Gas Reactors, H. Choi Annals of Nuclear Energy, 38, (2011)

*A Comparative Study on Recycling Spent Fuels in Gas-Cooled Fast Reactors, H. Choi, A. Baxter Annals of Nuclear Energy, 37, (2010)