Nuclear Data Interagency Working Group (NDIAWG) Research Program | DE FOA 0002440

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002440

The Nuclear Data Interagency Working Group (NDIAWG) Research Program is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding opportunity aimed at supporting targeted research that improves or resolves specific nuclear data needs shared across multiple federal missions. The program is jointly backed by three DOE organizations with overlapping nuclear data priorities: the DOE Office of Science (SC) Nuclear Physics (NP) program, the DOE Office of Science Isotopes Program (IP), and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (NA-22). In practical terms, the solicitation is designed to fund research projects that answer well-defined nuclear data questions that matter to the communities these offices support, including basic nuclear science, isotope production and applications, and nonproliferation-related research and development.

This opportunity is issued as a discretionary grant under the Office of Science, within the general category of science and technology and other research and development. It is identified by Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0002440 and is associated with CFDA number 81.049. The eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning a wide range of applicant organizations may apply, subject to standard federal assistance rules and the specific requirements laid out in the full funding announcement. The original application closing date was March 8, 2021, and the opportunity record indicates an award ceiling of $1,000,000 per award. While the listing notes “ExpectedAwards:” without a number provided, the presence of a ceiling suggests awards could support substantial, multi-institutional, or experimentally intensive efforts when justified by scope.

At its core, the NDIAWG program reflects the reality that “nuclear data” underpins a lot of national work but is expensive and time-consuming to generate. Nuclear data can include measurements and evaluations of quantities like reaction cross sections, decay properties, neutron and gamma emission probabilities, fission yields, and other parameters needed to model nuclear processes accurately. These data sets feed directly into simulation tools and evaluated libraries used across disciplines. When key data are missing, uncertain, or inconsistent, it can limit progress in fundamental nuclear physics, complicate isotope production planning, increase uncertainty in nonproliferation signatures and detection models, and generally reduce confidence in computational predictions that depend on nuclear inputs. The NDIAWG mechanism is intended to prioritize and address those gaps in a coordinated way across agencies and mission areas rather than having each program tackle them independently.

Because the announcement frames the goal as answering “nuclear data questions of interest” to the supported communities, the most competitive projects are typically those that are clearly motivated by a recognized data need, propose a credible path to producing improved data (or resolving discrepancies), and deliver outputs that can be used by the broader nuclear data and user communities. That can include new experimental measurements, improved theoretical modeling where it is essential to interpret or extrapolate data, and activities that support the use, validation, or improvement of nuclear data products. The emphasis on interagency relevance implies that proposed work should not be narrowly specialized without a clear connection to broader application needs; instead, it should show how the results will help multiple stakeholders who rely on nuclear data for research, production, or national security missions.

Key administrative details from the notice include: the administering agency is the DOE Office of Science; the instrument type is a grant; the opportunity was created on December 7, 2020; and applications were due by March 8, 2021. The stated maximum funding amount per award is up to $1,000,000. Overall, the solicitation is best understood as a focused R&D funding call intended to strengthen the nuclear data foundation that supports DOE Office of Science nuclear physics research, isotope-related activities, and NNSA nonproliferation R&D by investing in projects that directly reduce nuclear data uncertainties and close high-priority data gaps.

• The Office of Science in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Nuclear Data Interagency Working Group (NDIAWG) Research Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.049.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-12-07.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-03-08. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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