Articles

Articles

Monday, March 11, 2024

Calls and Awards

NEW! Super RTE Call for Proposals

NSUF is pleased to announce the first ever Super Rapid Turnaround Experiment (Super RTE) call for proposals coming April 1, 2024. What is a Super RTE? More fundingMore time Greater accessThe first Super RTE call for proposals will open April 1 and will close on April 30 at 4 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time. The Super RTE call will function similarly to the traditional RTE solicitations but will encourage larger award amounts allowing greater work scopes to be performed. Awards are anticipated to allow twice as many days of access to any NSUF facility or capability. The award process offers an avenue for researchers to perform irradiation effects studies of limited...

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Thursday, February 15, 2024

News Release, Nuclear Research

First innovative NuScale experiment cycle completed, en route to post-irradiation examination

By Alexis Starks, NSUF at Idaho National Laboratory  In a major step towards commercial, small modular reactor deployment, progress is being made in testing new materials for NuScale's small modular reactor lower containment vessel. In 2019, NuScale Power LLC received access to Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor and Westinghouse Churchill Laboratory Services through the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) as part of the Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research program. The arrangement allowed NuScale to obtain irradiation data on F6NM, a martensitic stainless steel, with the intent of using F6NM for its lower containment vessel as part of the NuScale power module design for small modular reactors. (Left to right) Idaho National Laboratory...

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Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Users Group

NSUF welcomes 2024 Users Organization Executive Committee

By Alexis Starks, NSUF at Idaho National LaboratoryOur Nuclear Science User Facilities leadership is proud to introduce the 2024 Users Organization executive committee: Chair Maria Okuniewski from Purdue University, Vice Chair Stephen Taller from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Secretary Ramprashad Prabhakaran from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Student Representative Malachi Nelson from Idaho National Laboratory. “I am excited to work with a group of such talented and experienced NSUF users with a diverse representation from national laboratories, academia and industry,” said Chair Maria Okuniewski.” This year there was overwhelming support and interest from the community for the Users Group Executive Board. This engagement will allow for continued sustainability within the community.” As stated...

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Monday, February 5, 2024

Calls and Awards, RTE

NSUF awards 27 Rapid Turnaround Experiment proposals

Last updated 2/29/2024The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy's Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) has awarded 27 proposals to support the advancement of nuclear science and technology by providing access to world class capabilities at no cost to the researcher. This is the first award for fiscal year 2024.27 new Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) projects, totaling approximately $1.46 million, have been awarded. These awards went to 11 principle investigators from universities, including three international universities, and 16 principal investigators from national laboratories. FY24 First RTE Call Awards table.tableizer-table { font-size: 10px; border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } .tableizer-table td { padding:...

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Thursday, February 1, 2024

Calls and Awards, RTE

Second FY24 RTE Call Now Open

The second Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) call for fiscal year 2024 is now open. Proposals must be submitted by 4 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (MST) on February 29, 2024.This award process offers an avenue for researchers to perform irradiation effects studies of limited scope on nuclear fuels and materials of interest utilizing NSUF facilities. Completion of RTE projects is expected within 9 months of award. Prospective researchers are strongly encouraged to request samples from the NSUF Nuclear Fuels and Materials Library.RTE proposals are typically solicited and awarded three times per year. They are reviewed and evaluated for technical merit, relevancy and feasibility. The number of awards is dependent on the availability of...

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Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Facility Highlight, Partner Facility

Argonne launches Activated Materials Laboratory at Advanced Photon Source

By Alexis Starks, NSUF at Idaho National Laboratory Last year, NSUF welcomed a new addition to the nuclear materials community. The Activated Materials Laboratory (AML), a new radiological facility at Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), has recently been developed to assist in examining radioactive samples at the High-Energy X-ray Microscope and other APS beamlines.In November 2023, Argonne National Laboratory and NSUF hosted a workshop at the new facility to introduce upgrade capabilities and showcase applications of high-energy X-rays in nuclear materials research and other fields. The workshop also helped researchers identify suitable X-ray techniques for critical problems, such as...

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Monday, January 15, 2024

Facility Highlight

Outside looking in: Remote capabilities at Research Collaboration Building improve ease of research

By Paul Menser, Idaho National Laboratory Communications The Research Collaboration Building at Idaho National Laboratory's Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) now offers remote operating system capabilities. This enhancement provides researchers with easier access to select instruments within the Irradiated Materials Characterization Laboratory (IMCL), a key resource for high-demand instruments such as the plasma focused ion beam and transmission electron microscopes. The Research Collaboration Building serves as a landing spot, collaborative working space, and training area for a growing number of students, visiting researchers and postdoctoral researchers engaged in work at MFC. Completed in 2019, the building features 28 offices for researchers, staff members...

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Monday, July 17, 2023

Partner Facility, Facility Highlight

Penn State joins DOE Nuclear Science User Facilities program

Penn State’s Radiation Science and Engineering Center (RSEC) has joined the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) as a partner institution.

Professor Kenan Ünlü, director of the Radiation Science Engineering Center (RSEC), and Dan Beck, RSEC engineering program manager, look at a poster of the neutron beam ports and simultaneous beam operations available in RSEC. Penn State nuclear resources like these are now available to partner institutions through the Nuclear Science User Facilities program. Credit: Kenan Ünlü/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s Radiation Science and Engineering Center (RSEC) has joined the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) as a partner institution.The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s NSUF program offers nuclear energy researchers access to world-class...

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Thursday, June 15, 2023

Calls and Awards

Three Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research Proposals Awarded

The Department of Energy (DOE) has selected one DOE national laboratory and two university-led projects that will take advantage of NSUF capabilities to investigate important nuclear fuel and material applications. All three of these projects will be supported by more than $6.3 million in facility access costs and expertise for experimental neutron and ion irradiation testing, post-irradiation examination facilities, synchrotron beamline capabilities, and technical assistance for design and analysis of experiments through NSUF. A complete list of NSUF projects with their associated abstracts is available here.     ​IDTitlePIScopeInstitutionAccess Value23-28973Irradiation-Corrosion of Alumina-Forming Austenitic Stainless Steels in Static LeadJanelle Wharry NSUF 1.1Purdue University$2,288,97423-28959UN multi-design...

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Thursday, June 1, 2023

Calls and Awards

NSUF awards 28 Rapid Turnaround Experiment proposals

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – The U.S. Department of Energy - Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) has awarded 28 proposals to support the advancement of nuclear science and technology by providing access to world class capabilities at no cost to the researcher. This is the second award for FY 2023.28 new Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) projects, totaling approximately $1.74M, have been awarded. These awards went to 19 principal investigators from universities and 9 from national laboratories.The NSUF competitively selected these projects from a pool of quality RTE proposals submitted during the solicitation period. Proposals were evaluated...

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Monday, April 3, 2023

Facility Highlight

From atoms to earthquakes to Mars: High performance computing

Computational scientists use supercomputers to perform “virtual experiments” to accomplish research that couldn’t be done by conventional means.

By Cory Hatch, INL CommunicationsResearchers solving today’s most important and complex energy challenges can’t always conduct real-world experiments.   This is especially true for nuclear energy research. Considerations such as cost, safety and limited resources can often make laboratory tests impractical. In some cases, the facility or capability necessary to conduct a proper experiment doesn’t exist.At Idaho National Laboratory, computational scientists use INL’s supercomputers to perform “virtual experiments” to accomplish research that couldn’t be done by conventional means. While supercomputing can’t replace traditional experiments, supercomputing is an essential component of all modern scientific discoveries and advancements.“Science is like a three-leg stool,” said Eric Whiting, director of Advanced Scientific Computing at...

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