The Department of Energy said today that it will give $13 million to three research teams that are developing new safety features for light-water nuclear reactors like the ones used at existing power plants.

That total includes $6 million for a group at the Georgia Institute of Technology that is designing a safer version of a light-water reactor and $3.5 million apiece for teams at the University of Tennessee and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Those groups are working on safer designs for cladding, the protective outer surface of a fuel rod.

In a statement, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the projects will help cultivate the next generation of nuclear scientists -- something that's a major priority for the industry, with its aging workforce. One major reason is that the United States has not added any new reactors in the past 15 years, and just four are under construction today.

There could still be a big market in countries that are actively developing nuclear plants, such as China. New equipment for light-water reactors does offer "export opportunities for American-made nuclear technologies," Chu said today.

Most ambitious of the three projects is the one being undertaken at Georgia Tech.

The researchers are working on a design for a light-water reactor would produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity, similar to today's reactors, but would contain features that make it "inherently safe." One reason, the researchers say, is that it would be cooled by ambient air and wouldn't need either a backup power supply or a water supply; another is that it would be "seismically isolated," which would shield it from earthquakes within the historical record and "limit the consequences of stronger earthquakes," according to an abstract of the project.

Researchers have promised an inherently safe reactor before, but the new design has intrigued some big players in the industry. Taking part in the project are Westinghouse Electric Co., which developed the AP1000 design that's being used in all four of the reactors under construction in the country today, and the Atlanta-based utility Southern Co., which is building two of them at its Vogtle power plant in Georgia.

Meanwhile, the group at the University of Tennessee will work on a ceramic coating for zirconium alloy cladding that would be less prone to oxidation. By slowing down the release of hydrogen in the event that a reactor loses its cooling water, the new coating could help to avert an explosion like the ones that occurred in three reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant last year.

The researchers at the University of Illinois plan to develop a new type of zirconium alloy that would be more tolerant of an accident, with the potential to heal itself when it incurs damage.