PNNL

Nick Klymyshyn, a mechanical engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), was recognized as “Engineer of the Year” by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Columbia Basin Section. The award honors engineers for their technical, professional, and community contributions.

The ASME promotes the art, science, and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences throughout the world. The Engineer of the Year award is bestowed annually to an engineer that demonstrates significant engineering work to assure a safer and better environment, advances technical knowledge, and makes both professional and community contributions.

“I’m honored to be recognized for my work on the multi-modal transportation test, which was a great opportunity to collaborate with international experts in the field of spent nuclear fuel transportation,” said Klymyshyn. “At PNNL, we’re working to advance research and development related to the safe transportation and extended long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. Our PNNL team includes a broad group of experts such as mechanical engineers, material scientists, and nuclear engineers.”

At PNNL, Klymyshyn’s research focuses on structural dynamic analysis of spent nuclear fuel and its storage and transportation systems, specifically numerical modeling using finite element analysis. His work is helping to close knowledge gaps in structural dynamic modeling and analysis, as well as some of the recent experimental test campaigns that help validate the models. In 2018, Klymyshyn received the U.S. Department of Energy Secretary of Energy Achievement Award as a part of the International Multi-Modal Surrogate Spent Nuclear Fuel Transportation Test Team.

Klymyshyn joined PNNL in 1997 and has supported numerous research and development programs related to energy and defense throughout his career. In addition to his work with ASME, Klymyshyn is involved in the Department of Energy Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships program, which encourages undergraduate students and recent graduates to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers by providing research experiences at PNNL.