The US Harvesting Plans with the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF)
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF)
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Role of Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) in Nuclear Energy Materials Research
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) is one of a diverse number of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) user facilities established to provide researchers with the most advanced tools of modern science. The NSUF is unique and represents a consortium of capabilities distributed across the U.S. at twenty-one institutions. The NSUF is centered at and managed from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where it was originally founded, but it coordinates activities at twenty “partner” institutions that include universities, the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES), national laboratories, and a nuclear industry vendor. These institutions have capabilities that include neutron, ion, and gamma irradiation, hot cells, advanced materials characterization equipment, and high-performance computing resources. Many of these capabilities were beyond reach for most researchers before NSUF. The NSUF provides researchers to access these capabilities at no cost to nuclear energy researchers to produce the highest quality research results to increase understanding of advanced nuclear energy technologies important to DOE-NE and support national priorities by adapting to the needs of DOE-NE programs, industry, and new innovative concepts for sustainable nuclear future.
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Neutron and Ion Irradiation Studies on Advanced Steels Using the Nuclear Science User Facilities
For nuclear reactor structural materials, irradiation is capable of inducing a series of microstructural modifications, such as dislocation loops/network, selective elemental segregation and precipitation, voids and helium bubbles, leading to the degradation in structural materials' performance through irradiation hardening and embrittlement, swelling, irradiation creep, etc. Since radiation poses challenges for structural applications in nuclear reactors in multiple aspects and the underlying mechanisms are often interconnected, radiation effect studies need well-designed test matrix and proper characterization techniques. The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) offer extensive capabilities for studying radiation effects in nuclear fuels and structural materials. This research covers both neutron and ion irradiation studies carried out using a variety of instruments through the NSUF. The neutron irradiation ferritic ODS steel MA957 was accomplished utilizing the neutron irradiation capability of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) and the post-irradiation examination (PIE) capabilities of the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES). The neutron-irradiated specimens were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atom probe tomography (APT). The in situ TEM ion irradiation study on austenitic stainless steel (SS) 316H was completed using the IVEM-Tandem facility at Argonne National Laboratory.
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Nuclear Science User Facilities FY 2017 Annual Report
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) Annual Report describes NSUF program activities and developments for FY 2017. The NSUF Annual Report covers the period beginning October 1, 2016, through September 30, 2017.
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Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) Overview
PowerPoint slides on Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) Overview
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Nuclear Science User Facility: Overview of Neutron Irradiation Activities
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF), established in 2007 as the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) National Scientific User Facility is chartered to provide cost-free access to unique and important research and development capabilities and infrastructure to nuclear energy-focused researchers. Users can apply for access to any of the NSUF INL or partner facilities using the same process, either through the annual Office of Nuclear Energy Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research funding announcement or the NSUF Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) opportunities, offered three times each year. The NSUF has several research and test reactors available as well as ion beamlines and x-ray light sources for experimental use in support of the R&D objectives of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy. This presentation reviews the current capabilities, needs, awarded irradiation experiments and potential use in FY 2018.
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Nuclear Science User Facility: Neutron Irradiation Challenges and Opportunities
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF), established in 2007 as the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) National Scientific User Facility is chartered to provide cost-free access to unique and important research and development capabilities and infrastructure to nuclear energy-focused researchers. Users can apply for access to any of the NSUF INL or partner facilities using the same process, either through the annual Office of Nuclear Energy Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research funding announcement or the NSUF Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) opportunities, offered three times each year. The NSUF has several research and test reactors available as well as ion beamlines and x-ray light sources for experimental use in support of the R&D objectives of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy. This presentation reviews the current capabilities, needs, awarded irradiation experiments for FY2018.
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Nuclear Science User Facilities FY 2020 Program Performance Summary
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) first gathered and reported metric data for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. The goal of the FY 2014 NSUF Metric Report was to establish metric measures and to provide baseline data to evaluate future performance of the NSUF. Each metric goal and objective was established through NSUF discussions with Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho Operations Office and Office of Nuclear Energy staff. This report provides the data, analysis, and conclusions for the FY 2020 metrics.
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Nuclear Science User Facilities FY 2019 Program Performance Summary
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) first gathered and reported metric data for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. The goal of the FY 2014 NSUF Metric Report was to establish metric measures and to provide baseline data to evaluate future performance of the NSUF. Each metric goal and objective were established through NSUF discussions with Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho Operations Office and Office of Nuclear Energy staff. This report provides the data, analysis, and conclusions for the FY 2019 metrics.
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Advanced Scientific Computing Nuclear Science User Facilities FY19 Annual Program Review
Advanced Scientific Computing Nuclear Science User Facilities FY19 Annual Program Review
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2017 Year End Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) Post-Irradiation Examination Summary Report
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) are part of a growing number of Department of Energy (DOE) user facilities in the U.S., and is the only national designated nuclear energy user facility. Through a peer-reviewed proposal process, NSUF provides external research teams cost-free access to reactor, post-irradiation examination (PIE) and beamline capabilities at INL and a diverse mix of affiliated partner institutions at universities, national laboratories and industry facilities located across the country. In Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17), the NSUF sponsored planning, management and execution of PIE activities at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES), and other NSUF partner facilities. The individual projects associated with these PIE activities are a result from DOE awards under the following mechanisms: Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research (CINR) awards that include full sample irradiation and PIE, PIE only (using samples from the NSUF Fuel and Materials Library) awards, or Rapid Turn-Around Experiments (RTE). An accounting of FY17 activities for each project is provided in this report.
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Nuclear Science User Facilities Irradiation Capabilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) within the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy offer researchers the opportunity to access world-class nuclear facilities at no cost to the user. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) offers users access to the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) in addition to a wide variety of post-irradiation examination facilities. The ORNL irradiation engineering team has compiled a large number of successful designs for irradiating nuclear fuel and material specimens. NSUF users can leverage these existing designs to significantly reduce the time, cost, and risk of failure when designing new irradiation experiments. This work summarizes some of the irradiation experiment designs and capabilities that have been developed at ORNL in the hope that this information will help improve future NSUF proposals and inspire new ideas for irradiations that can be performed in the HFIR.
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Post Irradiation Examination of Fast Neutron Irradiated 14YWT Tubes at Nuclear Science User Facilities
Cladding materials for next generation nuclear reactors require resistance to high doses of fast neutron flux. Work through the Department of Energy's (DOE) Nuclear Technology Research and Development (NTR and D) Program's Advanced Fuel Campaign has identified 14YWT, a nano-ferritic oxide dispersion strengthened alloy as a promising alloy and has made a 50 kg batch of material, FCRD-NFA1, with nominal composition Fe-14Cr-3W0.4Ti-0.2Y in weight percentage. Plates were extruded from milled powder at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and then electro-discharge machined (EDM) into two sizes of tubes at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The OD of the tubes were polished to remove the EDM recast layer. Twenty-four of these tubes were placed into the BOR60 reactor, a sodium fast reactor, at the RIAR lab in Dimitrovgrad Russia. Irradiation conditions depended on exact location within the reactor, but the two samples in this study (L108 and L202) were irradiated to 7 dpa at 360-370 deg. C (Sample L108), and 6 dpa at 385-430 deg. C (L202). More detailed temperature models are pending for sample L202. Post irradiation examination took place at both LANL and the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). Facilities used at LANL (CMR Wing 9 Hot Cells, Electron Microscopy Lab (EML)) are part of a pending NSUF partner facility application, while the work at UCB was completed under a Nuclear Science User Facility, Rapid Turnaround Experiment Proposal (NSUF-RTE)
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Advanced Characterization Capabilities for Nuclear Materials via Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF)
Advanced post-irradiation examination (PIE) techniques are required to design new or improved nuclear materials, characterize, and understand in-core behavior of fuel and materials, and support the qualification of new reactor materials. The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) is the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy's only designated nuclear science user facility. NSUF provides researchers access to PIE capabilities at Idaho National Laboratory and at a diverse mix of university, national laboratory and industrial partner institutions. The PIE capabilities include novel destructive and non-destructive techniques for radiation damage characterization, such as advanced diffraction techniques (X-ray, electron, or neutron) coupled to extreme environments; in-situ observation of microstructural evolution under irradiation; in-situ irradiation to monitor corrosive attack in coolant environments; in-situ irradiation and mechanical testing; and test methods for synergistic effects of superimposed extreme environments (temperature, irradiation, stress, corrosion) on materials behaviors. This talk will provide an overview of NSUF PIE capabilities.
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FY26 Progress Report on the Operation of the Activated Materials Laboratory at the Advanced Photon Source as a Nuclear Science User Facilities Partner Facility
The Activated Materials Laboratory (AML), located in the Long Beamline Building of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), provides a centralized radiological capability for preparing, handling, and supporting synchrotron experiments on activated materials. As a Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) partner facility, the AML enables the receipt of radioactive shipments, open-form sample handling, encapsulation, transport of specimens to and from APS beamlines, and experimentation with dedicated equipment. The partnership includes the APS 1-ID and 20-ID beamlines, which provide high-energy x-ray scattering, tomography, and diffraction microscopy techniques for ex-situ, in-situ, and grainresolved three-dimensional (3D) characterization. All samples supported through the AML and partner beamlines must meet radiological limits of less than 100 mrem/h at 30 cm. This FY26 progress report summarizes the first full year of AML operations as an NSUF partner facility and highlights progress in both user support and capability development. By the end of FY26, the AML had received a total of 10 NSUF-awarded projects, including 2 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research (CINR), 7 Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE), and 1 Super RTE projects. Beamtime was fully delivered for 3 RTE projects and partially delivered for 1 CINR project, demonstrating successful workflows for receipt, encapsulation, beamline transfer, and radiological experiment execution. These efforts demonstrated safe radiological experiments at APS beamlines for samples with dose rates above the historical 5 mrem/h threshold and now up to 100 mrem/h at 30 cm, marking an important milestone for neutron-irradiated materials research. During FY26, the AML also expanded its experimental capabilities. A Psylotech xTS load frame with in-grip rotation was deployed for room-temperature mechanical testing with threedimensional x-ray characterization during interrupted loading. A Linkam TS1500V vacuum heater was commissioned for thermally driven studies, and temperature calibration experiments were performed to establish specimen-relevant thermal profiles. In parallel, a customized split-tube furnace for high-temperature mechanical testing entered commissioning, and initial work began on robotic sample handling to reduce worker dose and improve operational efficiency. Data workflow and beamline operations continued to mature. Together, these developments demonstrate that the AML is becoming a unique national resource for safe, efficient, and scientifically advanced characterization of activated materials at the APS.
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Nuclear Science User Facilities High Performance Computing: Provide a Science Gateway for HPC Users
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), supported by the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) through the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF), provides direct access to the Barracuda Virtual Reactor and 18 Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) applications via a web-based science gateway developed using Open Ondemand on the INL high performance computing (HPC) systems. This gateway features the computational tools of the Nuclear Computational Resource Center (NCRC) and the computing resources of the INL high performance computing systems. These computational tools are a key foundation of collaboration and innovation in nuclear energy systems research. High performance computing resources and INL staff directly support the mission and objectives of DOE-NE. The Barracuda Virtual Reactor was the first science gateway deployed in Jan 2021 to support NSUF users. In July 2021, the science gateway was expanded to support access to NCRC codes for use across all supported INL HPC systems. The HPC science gateway currently supports 20 total applications. The gateway also includes access to training resources specific to NCRC tools.
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Overview and Status of the US Nuclear Science User Facilities Program
Abstract for invited oral presentation
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Nuclear Science User Facilities High Performance Computing - September 2019
This report highlights a subset of accomplishments including projects that were completed in FY 2019 by researchers using Idaho National Laboratory’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources.
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