Researcher profile: Jacy Conrad

INL staff scientist pursues new challenges in radiation chemistry

By Paul Menser, INL communications

Although her radiation chemistry research is detailed and complex, Jacy Conrad has a simple guiding principle that keeps her going. “Eventually, with enough time, you can figure anything out,” says Conrad, who joined Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in 2021 as a Russell L. Heath distinguished postdoctoral research associate and has since become a staff scientist in the lab’s Center for Radiation Chemistry Research.

A Nova Scotia native with a doctorate in physical chemistry from Ontario’s University of Guelph, Conrad received the 2019 R.E. Jervis Award from the Canadian Nuclear Association and the Canadian Nuclear Society while working in chemistry professor Peter Tremaine's lab. The award recognizes excellence in research and development by a graduate student in nuclear engineering or related fields.

When she was growing up, Conrad had a keen interest in science. “I wanted to be a schoolteacher, but I think that was only because I liked science and academics so much and didn’t know of any other career options where I could keep learning,” she said.

As an undergraduate at Dalhousie University, she doubled down on physics and chemistry, earning combined honors for her bachelor’s as well as a certificate in computing sciences.

At Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, while pursuing her Ph.D., she fell in love with radiation chemistry. It brought her into the nuclear community where she found a warm welcome.

“The people in radiation chemistry, they really love to help you out,” she said.

She volunteered to serve on the Canadian Nuclear Society’s annual conference organizing committee, expanding her network. In early 2020, while finishing her doctorate at Guelph, she applied for the distinguished fellowship at INL.

“One of her strengths is she is very proactive,” said Gregory Holmbeck, an INL researcher who also started as a Russell L. Heath postdoc. Holmbeck mentored Conrad when she arrived, and the two have since co-authored eight publications. “She is incredibly dedicated and detail oriented. Her experiments are well designed and thorough, and when you get data from her, you know it’s going to be correct.”

Conrad’s research focuses on understanding how radiolytic processes — chemical decomposition caused by radiation — result in the degradation of various materials and solutions. She uses different?experimental techniques?to delve into fundamental processes that affect the reactivity, solubility and evolutionary behavior of different chemicals in ionizing radiation fields. From there, she develops?kinetic computer models to predict how chemicals behave under irradiation. This knowledge is essential to evaluating the performance of materials involved in a nuclear fuel cycle — how reactor materials corrode, how materials behave in the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel, and how materials can be partitioned for safe and secure storage.

Radiation is a special challenge for the nuclear industry. “We need to really understand the radiation chemistry if we want to work toward more efficient extraction techniques,” said Dan Whittaker, a researcher at the United Kingdom’s National Nuclear Laboratory who is collaborating with Conrad on an examination of how radiation affects acetohydroxamic acid, which is used to help extract uranium in nuclear fuel reprocessing. “We need to test each new chemical, so that we can make sure that advanced recycling techniques are developed correctly.”

It’s a challenge to accurately model how radiation affects chemicals. Radiation can cause hundreds of reactions in less than a second. To get snapshots of ultrafast chemical reactions caused by radiation absorption — some of them for the first time — Conrad turned to Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Laser Electron Accelerator Facility and the University of Notre Dame’s Radiation Research Laboratory Linear Accelerator. Experiments at these facilities produce quick, intense bursts of high-energy electrons that emulate the effects of beta and gamma radiation. The electron beam pulses are timed to coincide with rapid analytical techniques used to capture the behavior of short-lived chemicals in the solution.

By bringing in data gathered over decades of radiation chemistry experiments, reaction rates could be measured. Conrad and her colleagues used these reaction rates — almost 200 of them — to build a predictive model. To ensure the model was accurate, Conrad carried out more radiation work at INL’s Center for Radiation Chemistry Research. Using these gamma radiation sources, Conrad, Holmbeck and other researchers followed the progression of the chemical reactions over longer periods and identified the final stable products. Their measured concentrations matched the values calculated by the model, proving that the model’s predictions were accurate.

Most recently, Conrad won the Joanna Fowler Award in the Chemical and Biochemical Sciences, which recognizes outstanding early-career female scientists who have advanced the chemical or biochemical sciences through research at, or in collaboration with, Brookhaven National Laboratory.?In fiscal year 23, she was also named Outstanding Postdoc of the Year by INL’s Research Excellence program for her remarkable achievements at the laboratory.

“The challenge of unraveling all the individual chemical reactions that contribute to the degradation of a single species is really exciting,” Conrad said. “At the end of the day, it’s incredible to watch all the puzzle pieces come together, and, better yet, that this work can have such important impacts in optimizing used nuclear fuel reprocessing cycles.”

Outside of work, Conrad enjoys sports and the outdoors, participating in recreational adult soccer and hockey leagues; playing golf, hiking or camping most weekends; and snowshoeing in the winter. “I love the access to the outdoors in Idaho because we’re surrounded by such amazing mountains and hiking trails,” she said.?

About Idaho National Laboratory

Battelle Energy Alliance manages INL for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. INL is the nation's center for nuclear energy research and development, celebrating 75 years of scientific innovations in 2024. The laboratory performs research in each of DOE’s strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and the environment. For more information, visit www.inl.gov. Follow us on social media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.