Chad L. Pope

Dr. Chad L. Pope is a Professor and Nuclear Engineering Program Director at Idaho State University since 2013. He maintains a joint appointment with Idaho National Laboratory (INL), focusing on nuclear safety, criticality analysis, and reactor physics. His expertise spans Nuclear Safety, Reactor Design, and Risk Assessment for nuclear facilities.

His research includes:

• Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) project with Oregon State University and TerraPower
• Flooding risk analysis for nuclear power plants
• Neutron computed tomography for spent fuel inspection
• SODA application for stochastic decision-making

Publications show strong emphasis on Monte Carlo methods, thermal-hydraulics, and fast spectrum reactors. He has secured a $400,000 DOE grant for EBR-II reactor physics benchmarking. Students under his supervision have completed thesis work on topics ranging from neutron shielding to flooding fragility models. Collaborations with INL, TerraPower, and industry partners demonstrate his cross-sector impact in nuclear engineering.