Connie M. Hill is a nuclear engineer in the NS&T Division, Neutronics Analysis Group. Since joining INL, she has served on several design teams to support a variety of experiments tested in the Transient Reactor Rest (TREAT) Facility. Experiments in TREAT accommodate a wide range of testing needs through special design of the experiment containment package. Neutronics analysis is necessary to both inform optimal design and to help verify structural integrity and safety of the design for irradiation. She was the lead neutronics analyst for the modern inaugural test in TREAT (after a 23-year reactor operational stand-by) of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) in 2018 and has since provided analysis using MCNP, SCALE, and Python to support testing a variety of nuclear fuel types. Further testing and research topics include water moderated ATF experiments, TRISO based fuels for the Transformational Challenge Reactor concept, and Westinghouse next generation reactor concept, plutonium bearing metallic fuels for the fast reactor concept, and thermal nuclear propulsion fuel types in the NASA Sirius 1, -2, -2c, -3 and -4 experiments. Her research interests include reactor physics, nuclear fuel design, in-pile instrumentation, and nuclear material science. She has a B.S degree in Nuclear Engineering and an M.S degree in Nuclear Science and Engineering from Idaho State University.
In-core Instrumentation
Reactor Physics
Nuclear Fuel Design
Nuclear Materials