IDAHO FALLS -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) has selected 39 new Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) projects, totaling up to approximately $1.3 million. These projects will continue to advance the understanding of irradiation effects in nuclear fuels and materials in support of the mission of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy.
NSUF, first established at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is the nation’s only user facility overseen by the Office of Nuclear Energy. NSUF provides research teams with access to reactor, post-irradiation examination, high-performance computing, and beamline capabilities at a diverse mix of affiliated partner facilities in university, national laboratory, and industry institutions across the country at no cost to the user.
NSUF competitively selected the 39 RTE projects from high-quality proposals submitted during the solicitation period. Each proposal was evaluated based on a variety of factors including feasibility, mission relevance, and scientific-technical merit.
RTE project research teams include 26 principal investigators from universities, 10 from national laboratories, two from foreign institutions, and one from industry who will work with the NSUF on their proposed experiments. The newly awarded RTE projects are:
PI Name | Institution | Proposal Title | Facility |
Charlyne Smith | University of Florida | Atom probe tomography of fission gas bubble superlattice in U-Mo fuel | Center for Advanced Energy Studies - Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
David Estrada | Boise State University | Ion irradiation of Aerosol Jet Printed Cu, Ag, and Ni Structures | University of Michigan Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory |
David Frazer | University of California Berkeley | Elevated Temperature In-situ SEM micro compression of UO2 | University of California Berkeley |
Edward Lahoda | Westinghouse | Evaluation of Irradiated Cr Coatings on Zirconium Alloys | Westinghouse Materials Center for Excellence |
Isabella Van Rooyen | Idaho National Laboratory | In-situ High Temperature Ion Irradiation Transmission Electron Microscopy to Understand Fission Product Transport in Silicon Carbide of TRISO Fuel | Sandia National Laboratory I3TEM Facility |
James Edgar | Kansas State University | Transmutation doping of hexagonal boron nitride | The Ohio State University |
James Spicer | Johns Hopkins University | Understanding the mechanism for mesopore development in irradiated graphite by high resolution gas adsorption measurements (N2 and Kr at 77 K) | Oak Ridge National Laboratory Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
James Stubbins | University of Illinois | Microstructure characterization of neutron-irradiated Fe-Cr-C model alloys | Idaho National Laboratory Materials and Fuels Complex |
Janelle Wharry | Purdue University | Extension and Validation of Rate Theory Model of Nanocluster Irradiation Evolution: An Atom Probe Tomography Study | Center for Advanced Energy Studies - Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Jean Claude van Duysen | University of Tennessee | In Situ Straining of 10-dpa Neutron Irradiated Austenitic Stainless Steels using Scanning Electron Microscope Electron Backscatter Diffraction | Oak Ridge National Laboratory Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
Jian Gan | Idaho National Laboratory | Investigation of gas bubble behavior in metals using in-situ Ne, Ar and Kr ion irradiation | Argonne National Laboratory Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy Tandem Facility |
Jonova Thomas | Purdue University | Microstructural Phase Characterization of Irradiated and Control U-10Zr Fuels | Idaho National Laboratory Materials and Fuels Complex |
Ju Li | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Quantification of porosity evolution in ion irradiated metal-1D/2D nanocomposites and gas-embrittled steels via Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy | North Carolina State University |
Julie Tucker | Oregon State University | Micro-mechanical characterization of long range order in Ni-Cr alloys and their response to radiation damage | University of California Berkeley |
Karl Whittle | University of Liverpool | Interfacial Effects, Damage and Recovery in Binary Carbides | Argonne National Laboratory Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy Tandem Facility |
Kathy Lu | Virginia Tech | In situ TEM observation of microstructural evolution of silicon carbide (SiC)-nanostructured ferritic alloy (NFA) composite under high temperature ion irradiation | Argonne National Laboratory Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy Tandem Facility |
Kayla Yano | Purdue University | TEM in situ 4-point bend fracture testing of irradiated ODS alloys | Center for Advanced Energy Studies - Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Kevin Tolman | Idaho National Laboratory | Towards characterizing the microstructural evolution in nuclear fuel via neutron diffraction | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Koroush Shirvan | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Understanding the Mechanism of Thermal-Hydraulic Enhancement On Gamma Irradiated Nuclear Materials Interfaces | Sandia National Laboratory Gamma Irradiation Facility |
Lingfeng He | Idaho National Laboratory | Characterization of grain boundaries of Alloy X-750 irradiated in EBR-II | Idaho National Laboratory Materials and Fuels Complex |
Maria A Auger | University of Oxford | Post-irradiation analysis at the nanoscale of 14YWT after high dose (16.6 dpa) neutron irradiation at 386C and 412C | Oak Ridge National Laboratory Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
Maria Okuniewski | Purdue University | Synchrotron X-ray Characterization of the Microstructural Evolution of U Alloys Irradiated to Low Fluences | Brookhaven National Laboratory |
Matthew Cook | University of Florida | Fission Product Distribution Comparison in Irradiated and Safety Tested AGR-1 and AGR-2 TRISO Fuel Particles | University of Florida |
Matthew Swenson | University of Idaho | Irradiation-induced solute clustering behavior in ferritic/martensitic alloy T91 | Center for Advanced Energy Studies - Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Michael Short | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Investigation of radiation-generated phases in FeCrSi alloys for multimetallic layered composite (MMLC) for LWR fuel cladding | Center for Advanced Energy Studies - Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Mukesh Bachhav | Idaho National Laboratory | Understanding the role of grain boundary character in segregation behavior of solute elements in neutron irradiated 304 SS using Atom Probe Tomography. | Center for Advanced Energy Studies - Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Nathan Almirall | University of California Santa Barbara | Atom Probe Tomography Investigations of nm-Scale Precipitates in Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels in the UCSB Advanced Test Reactor (ATR-2) Neutron Irradiation Experiment | Center for Advanced Energy Studies - Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Nicholas Brown | Penn State University | Kinetics of irradiation defect annealing and thermal conductivity recovery in silicon carbide at high temperature | Oak Ridge National Laboratory Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
Ramprashad Prabhakaran | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | Mechanical characterization of three heats (ORNL, LANL and EBR II) of HT-9 after side-by-side neutron irradiation at LWR and fast reactor relevant temperatures | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
Riley Parrish | University of Florida | Microstructural characterization of ~7% burn-up MOX fuel | Idaho National Laboratory Materials and Fuels Complex |
Rodney Ewing | Stanford University | In situ study of “rim effect” microstructure modification of nuclear fuels (resubmitted) | Argonne National Laboratory Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy Tandem Facility |
Steven Zinkle | University of Tennessee | Irradiation-induced precipitation/segregation in dual-phase Al0.3CoCrFeNi alloy | Center for Advanced Energy Studies - Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Subhashish Meher | Idaho National Laboratory | Electron Tomography for Three-Dimensional Characterization of Intragranular Fission Product Transport in Neutron-Irradiated Silicon Carbide in TRISO Fuel | Idaho National Laboratory Materials and Fuels Complex |
Takaaki Koyanagi | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Pair distribution function analysis on recovery of irradiation induced defects in SiC | Brookhaven National Laboratory |
Tom Zega | University of Arizona | In situ Ion Irradiation of a SiC composite using a MEMS-based Heating Holder | Argonne National Laboratory Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy Tandem Facility |
Xinghang Zhang | Purdue University | Radiation response of nanostructured steels with various types of defect sinks | Argonne National Laboratory Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy Tandem Facility |
Yinbin Miao | Argonne National Laboratory | In Situ TEM Investigation on Fission Gas Behavior in U-10Zr | Argonne National Laboratory Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscopy Tandem Facility |
Yong Yang | University of Florida | Understand the Fission Products Behavior and Irradiation Effects in UCO Fuel Kernels of Irradiated AGR-1 and AGR-2 TRISO Fuel Particles Using Titan Themis 200 with ChemiSTEM Capability | Idaho National Laboratory Materials and Fuels Complex |
Yutai Katoh | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Microstructural examination of in-situ tensile creep SiC specimen irradiated in the Halden reactor | Oak Ridge National Laboratory Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) is the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy's only designated nuclear energy user facility. Through peer-reviewed proposal processes, the NSUF provides researchers access to neutron, ion, and gamma irradiations, post-irradiation examination and beamline capabilities at Idaho National Laboratory and a diverse mix of university, national laboratory and industry partner institutions.
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