Opportunities with NSUF for Nuclear Energy R&D

Program Document · Wed Feb 27 04:00:00 EST 2019

OSTI ID:1968270

Heidrich, Brenden J ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory

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 idea of a user facility has been around since the Manhattan Project, when the first of the large government-owned R&D facilities was built. Currently there are over 50 such facilities in the US, but only one devoted to nuclear energy R&D. The NSUF was established in 2007 to open INL capabilities to outside users through a competitive process. The intent was to provide access to these capabilities to a broader range of researchers that represented significant intellectual capital. The combined nuclear energy community would then be able to address the important issues relevant to the mission of the DOE-NE with respect to irradiation effects in nuclear fuels and materials. The NSUF is fairly unique in that it is no longer composed of a single self-contained facility but represents a consortium of facilities distributed across the U.S. at a number of institutions. The NSUF is centered at and managed from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where it was originally founded, but it also coordinates activities at more than twelve NSUF partner facilities that include eight universities, plus the three Idaho universities that are part of the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES), four national laboratories, and one nuclear industry vendor. The NSUF goal is 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.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1968270
• Report Number(s): INL/MIS-19-52999-Rev000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
nuclear materials
user facility