About

William S. Charlton is the John J. McKetta Energy Professor in the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program within the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where he joined the faculty in January 2018. He also serves as the Director of the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory (NETL), which houses the newest nuclear research reactor in the U.S. His expertise lies in the application of nuclear science and engineering to national security, including nuclear nonproliferation, counter-proliferation, security, and deterrence. Dr. Charlton has over 15 years of technical experience in designing, developing, testing, and evaluating technological solutions for nuclear threats. Prior to his current role, he served as the Research Director for the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska, where he was responsible for research programs related to combatting weapons of mass destruction and worked with national security agencies. He has also held faculty positions at Texas A&M University and served as a Technical Staff Member at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Charlton earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M University. His research and teaching focus on nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear security system design, nuclear forensics, and related areas, with a significant contribution to the development of technical education and research in these fields.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Radiochemistry
• Materials science
• Physics
• Data Mining
• Chemistry
• Artificial Intelligence
• Machine Learning
• Nanotechnology
• Nuclear physics
• Environmental science
• Composite material
• Chromatography
• Chemical engineering
• Environmental chemistry

Selected publications

• A Video-Based Optical Approach to Reactor Power Monitoring using Cherenkov Emission

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• A video-based optical approach to reactor power monitoring using Cherenkov emission

  Annals of Nuclear Energy · 2026-05-23

  articleOpen access

  • A commercial camera records Cherenkov light for reactor power monitoring. • Video-derived blue intensity is synchronized with reactor console data. • Nonlinear calibration corrects sensor saturation at high reactor power. • Cherenkov-derived estimates reduce high-power noise versus detectors. • Optical monitoring provides a spatially integrated complementary signal.

  PublisherDOI

• MCNP determination of optimized Compton suppressed geometry for quantification of plutonium in solution

  Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry · 2025-11-26

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Measurement of the isomeric yield ratio for <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mi>Zr</mml:mi><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mn>88</mml:mn></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:math> thermal neutron absorption

  Physical review. C · 2025-02-19 · 1 citations

  article

  In light of the recently observed $8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{5}$ barn thermal neutron absorption cross section of zirconium-88, this work investigates the rate (isomeric yield ratio) of metastable zirconium-89 production and resulting implications for ongoing measurements around zirconium-88 neutron absorption. The metastable state of zirconium-89 resides at 588 keV above the ground state with a half-life of 4.2 min. A $5\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\textmu{}\mathrm{Ci}$ zirconium-88 sample was irradiated for 10 min in the core of a TRIGA Mark II nuclear research reactor and measured with a high purity germanium detector starting 3 min after irradiation. The isomeric yield ratio was measured to be $74.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.6%$.

  PublisherDOI

• Monte Carlo modelling of electrorefining salt measurements

  Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry · 2025-11-18

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Measurement of a cold neutron cross section for the 40Ca(n, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si5.svg" display="inline" id="d1e201"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> )37Ar reaction

  Applied Radiation and Isotopes · 2025-10-10

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Monitors for the prediction of neptunium and americium concentrations in spent fuel

  OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 2024-02-05

  paratextOpen accessSenior author

  The higher-actinide isotopes of {sup 237}Np, {sup 241}Am, and {sup 243}Am are fissionable nuclides formed in reactor fuels and, if separated, could conceivably be used in a nuclear explosive device. Recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors tasked the Secretariat with maintaining oversight of these Np and Am nuclides, or alternate nuclear materials (ANMs). Calculations of the production of these isotopes using reactor analysis codes may provide a cost-effective route to determine levels of these materials in spent fuel. Several codes and data libraries have been examined for their ability to accurately predict the quantity of the ANMs available from several reactor types.

  PublisherOA PDF

• X-ray fluorescence for safeguards of spent fuel assemblies

  OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 2024-02-09

  paratextOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Not Provided

  PublisherOA PDF

• Alternatives to NIST Cf-252 Iirradiations for Transfer Calibration of S-32 Neutron Monitors

  EPJ Web of Conferences · 2024-01-01

  articleOpen access

  Gas-flow proportional counting systems are used by the Radiation Metrology Laboratory (RML) at Sandia National Laboratories for reactor fluence monitoring with the 32 S(n,p) 32 P reaction. Calibration of these systems has traditionally been accomplished by fluence-transfer irradiations at the NIST 252 Cf facility. Such calibrations have become increasingly difficult as the NIST 252 Cf source decayed to unusable levels. To minimize the risk to the testing programs from an inability to properly calibrate these systems, the RML has developed two alternative calibration techniques: 1) development and implementation of certified 32 P sources for activity calibrations and subsequent calculation of neutron fluence, and 2) direct counting of non-certified reactor-irradiated sulfur pellets by liquid scintillation counting to determine 32 P activity for the subsequent calibration of gas-flow proportional counters. Preliminary comparisons show that the several calibration methods are capable of overall uncertainties within about 5 percent.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Prompt gamma activation analysis for 239Pu characterization

  Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry · 2024-05-03

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• T.A. Parish

  Los Alamos National Laboratory

  20 shared

• R.T. Perry

  15 shared

• Craig M. Marianno

  Texas A&M University

  11 shared

• Taraknath V.K. Woddi

  Curtiss-Wright (United States)

  10 shared

• Paul D. Nelson

  10 shared

• W.D. Stanbro

  Los Alamos National Laboratory

  9 shared

• S. Landsberger

  The University of Texas at Austin

  9 shared

• H.O. Menlove

  8 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Nuclear Engineering

  Texas A&M University

  1999

• M.S., Nuclear Engineering

  Texas A&M University

  1997

• B.S., Nuclear Engineering

  Texas A&M University

  1995

Awards & honors

• Special Service Award from the Institute of Nuclear Material…
• George Armistead Jr. ’23 Faculty Fellow at TAMU (2005)
• Dwight Look College of Engineering Faculty Fellow (2007)
• Advisor of the Year by the TAMU Division of Student Affairs…
• Barbara and Ralph Cox ’53 Faculty Fellow for the TAMU Colleg…