IDAHO FALLS -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) has selected 33 new Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) projects, totaling up to approximately $1.5 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.
The NSUF, first established at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is the nation's only user facility overseen by the Office of Nuclear Energy. The 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.
The NSUF competitively selected the 33 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 19 Principal Investigators (PIs) from universities, 10 from national laboratories, three from foreign institutions (two from the UK and one from Italy), and one from industry who will work with the NSUF on their proposed experiments.
The newly awarded RTE projects are:
Principal Investigator (PI) | PI Institution | Proposal Title | NSUF Partner Institution and Facility |
Athanasia Tzelepi | National Nuclear Laboratory | Electron tomography characterisation of porosity in IG-110 and NBG-17 nuclear graphite grades | Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
Ben Eftink | Los Alamos National Laboratory | Study on defect evolution and stability of Y-Ti-O nano-oxides in 14YWT alloys under heavy ion irradiation | Argonne National Laboratory -- Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscope Tandem Facility |
Casey McKinney | University of Florida | EPMA characterization of actinide redistribution and fission product composition in MOX fuels | Idaho National Laboratory -- Materials and Fuels Complex |
Christian Petrie | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Active irradiation testing of temperature sensing capability of clad sapphire optical fibers with Type 2 Bragg Gratings using optical backscatter reflectometry | The Ohio State University -- The Ohio State University Research Reactor Laboratory |
Dalong Zhang | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Effects of welding on radiation enhanced precipitation in FeCrAl alloys | Center for Advanced Energy Studies -- Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
David Frazer | University of California, Berkeley | High temperature in situ small-scale mechanical testing of fast reactor mixed oxide (MOX) pins. | Idaho National Laboratory -- Materials and Fuels Complex |
Dong Liu | University of Oxford | In situ study of the irradiation anisotropy in fine grain nuclear-grade graphite | Argonne National Laboratory -- Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscope Tandem Facility |
Elizabeth Getto | United States Naval Academy | Microstructural characterization of radiation tolerance of advanced joining techniques for oxide dispersion strengthened steels under ion irradiation | Center for Advanced Energy Studies -- Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Fabio Di Fonzo | Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia | Controlling the kinetics of radiation induced crystallization in nanoceramics by doping | Argonne National Laboratory -- Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscope Tandem Facility |
Ge Yang | North Carolina State University | Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy investigation of vacancy-related defects in room-temperature radiation detector material CdZnTe | North Carolina State University -- PULSTAR Research Reactor and the Nuclear Services Laboratory |
Haiming Wen | Missouri University of Science and Technology | Nanostructuring to enhance irradiation tolerance of ferritic/martensitic Grade 91 steels | University of Wisconsin -- Tandem Accelerator Ion Beam (TAIB) and Characterization Laboratory for Irradiated Materials (CLIM) |
James Stubbins | University of Illinois | A comparative study of the radiation response of Fe-12Cr, Fe-14Cr, Fe-19Cr model alloys and a Fe-14Cr ODS alloy | Center for Advanced Energy Studies -- Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Janelle Wharry | Purdue University | Irradiated Microstructure Evolution in Cast Compared to PM-HIP Alloy 625 | Westinghouse -- Churchill Laboratory Services |
Jonathan Tatman | Electric Power Research Institute | Advanced microstructural and nano-hardness characterization of low penetration pulsed-laser weldments performed on highly activated neutron irradiated stainless steel | Oak Ridge National Laboratory ? Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
Ju Li | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | In situ TEM study of radiation and oxidation tolerance of MAX-phase-like materials | Argonne National Laboratory -- Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscope Tandem Facility |
Lingfeng He | Idaho National Laboratory | Microstructural characterization of transmutation nitride fuels for fast reactors | Idaho National Laboratory -- Materials and Fuels Complex |
Mahmut Cinbiz | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Characterization of Neutron-Irradiated Zr-1Nb-O Using Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy | Idaho National Laboratory -- Materials and Fuels Complex |
Maik Lang | University of Tennessee | The study of local atomic structure and formation of ceramic phase in a simplified nuclear waste glasses | Brookhaven National Laboratory -- National Synchotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) |
Matthew Swenson | University of Idaho | Characterization and modeling of secondary phase evolution in an irradiated Zr-1.0Nb alloy | Center for Advanced Energy Studies -- Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Michael Moorehead | University of Wisconsin | TEM and APT characterization of ion irradiated high entropy alloys for sodium-cooled fast reactors | Center for Advanced Energy Studies -- Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Ming Tang | Los Alamos National Laboratory | Radiation stability study on nuclear waste materials | Argonne National Laboratory -- Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscope Tandem Facility |
Mohamed Elbakhshwan | University of Wisconsin | Radiation damage in high entropy alloys | University of Wisconsin -- Tandem Accelerator Ion Beam (TAIB) and Characterization Laboratory for Irradiated Materials (CLIM) |
Nicholas Brown | Pennsylvania State University | Novel microstructure characterization of pre-hydrided ZIRLO® at low neutron doses | Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
Niyanth Sridharan | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | Evaluating void swelling and microstructure evolution of additively manufactured HT9 | University of Michigan -- Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory |
Pradeep Ramuhalli | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | Post-irradiation Piezoelectric property characterization of radiation tolerant Piezoelectric materials | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory --Radiochemistry Processing Laboratory (RPL) |
Qing Su | University of Nebraska | APT study of Helium precipitates in amorphous/crystalline SiOC/Fe nanocomposites | Center for Advanced Energy Studies -- Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Riley Parrish | University of Florida | TEM analysis of Irradiated MOX fuel | Idaho National Laboratory -- Materials and Fuels Complex |
Thomas Blue | Ohio State University | High fluence irradiation testing of fiber optic material transmission | Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
Timothy Burchell | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | TEM investigation of irradiation, irradiation creep and thermal annealing effects in nuclear graphite | Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) |
Walter Williams | Purdue University | In situ phase analysis of phase transitions in U-(6, 10, 20, 30) wt%Zr fresh fuels | Los Alamos National Laboratory -- Wing 9 Hot Cells, Fuels Research Laboratory and the Plutonium Surface Science Laboratory |
Xiaoyuan Lou | Auburn University | Heavy ion irradiation on SCC resistant austenitic stainless steel made by laser additive manufacturing | University of Michigan -- Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory |
Yinbin Miao | Argonne National Laboratory | Microstructural modifications in U-10Zr irradiated by high energy Xe ions | Center for Advanced Energy Studies -- Microscopy and Characterization Suite |
Zefeng yu | University of Wisconsin | TEM/EDS study of Nb redistribution in ZrNb alloys following proton irradiation | Idaho National Laboratory -- Materials and Fuels Complex |
The NSUF holds RTE calls three times per year. The call offers any interested researcher from a university, national laboratory, or industry the opportunity to perform a limited scope of examinations at one facility. The next call for solicitations is scheduled to close June 29, 2018.
For user guides and more information about submitting proposals, visit the NSUF website, http://nsuf.inl.gov.
INL is a DOE multiprogram national laboratory, and performs work in each of DOE's strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and environment. INL is the nation's leading center for nuclear energy research and development. Day-to-day management and operation of the laboratory is the responsibility of Battelle Energy Alliance.
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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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