Click to edit Master title styleClick to edit Master title

style

The US Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF)

J. Rory Kennedy, Ph.D.Director, NSUF

Idaho National Laboratory

GAIN-EPRI-NEI Advanced Fuels WorkshopBoise, ID

March 6, 2019

The Nuclear Science User FacilitiesEstablished 2007 as US DOE Office of Nuclear Energy first & only user

facility.Founded at Idaho National Laboratory initially intended as a single

institution user facility. INL remains lead and primary institution.NSUF operates as typical US user facility (no cost to user, competitive

proposal processes, no funding to users) but also some unique aspects.

Unique aspects of NSUF Consortium of facilities/capabilities, not single

institution (currently 11 Universities + 4 Universities in CAES, 8 National Laboratories, 1 industry)

NSUF offers multiple capabilities to a single scientific area: • irradiation effects in nuclear fuels and materials.

Projects can last many years or be short duration. • Largest projects include design, fabrication,

transport, irradiation, PIE, and final disposition. No base funding to facilities.

• Funding to facility is for project cost and is fully forward funded.

The Nuclear Science User FacilitiesGenerally select projects through open competitive proposal

processes Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research (CINR FOA,

1 call/year)• Irradiation + PIE ($1.0M - $4.0M, up to 7 years) includes

design, analyses, fabrication, transport, irradiation, disassembly, PIE, disposition

• PIE only (up to 3 years)• In-pile measurements ($500K - $3.5M)• Beamlines at other user facilities• Possibility to also receive user R&D funding on limited

work scopes Rapid Turnaround Experiments (RTE, 3 calls/year, limited $$,

executed within 9 months)Proposals welcome from university, government laboratory,

industry, and small business researchers. Only non-proprietary projects accepted. All awarded projects are fully forward funded.

NSUF Capabilities Offer Research OpportunitiesNeutron

IrradiationsIon

IrradiationsGamma

Irradiations

Hot Cells & Shielded

Cells

Low Activity Laboratories Beamlines

High PerformanceComputing

Visit nsuf.inl.gov for details at individual facilities

11 Universities

CAES (4 Unis)

8 National Labs

1 Industry

Irradiation Effects in Nuclear

Fuels and Materials

Fuel Development

Fundamental Understanding in Reactor Materials

Advanced Cladding and

Structural Materials

Model Validation

Welding & Joining

High Performance Computing and

Modeling & Simulation

Advanced Manufacturing

Sensor Development

Radiation Resistant Materials

Ultra High Burnup

Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF) & Cladding

Fission Product Transport in TRISO Fuels

FCCI in Metallic FuelsCeramic Fuels

RPV Steels Hardening &

Embrittlement

ODS Steels

MAX Phases Silicon Carbide

Irradiation Assisted Grain Growth

Irradiation Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking

H Pickup in Zircaloy

SiC - SiC

Capacitive Discharge Resistance Welding

Laser Welding

Fission Gas Behavior in Fuels

Ion – Neutron Irradiation Correlation

Fast Reactor MOX Annual Fuel

Simulating Radiation and Thermal Effects in Cladding

Irradiation Creep in SiC

Nano-modified Concrete

Piezoelectric and MagnetostrictiveTransducer Materials

Fiber Bragg Grating Thermometer

Adv. Manufacturing for In-pile Thermal Conductivity

Optical Fiber / Fused Smart Alloy Sensor by Adv. Manufacture

Nanostructured Steels

Powder Bed FusionDirect Laser

Metal Melting

FeCrAl

PWR Coolant / U3Si2 Interaction

Neutron Absorbing Materials for ATF

Interest and Support Continue to Grow

$400K$4.1M

$10M

~$11M$10M

~$6M ~$5M ~$3M ~$4M

CINR-type project new award funding levels

Additive / Advanced Manufacturing Irradiation Testing of Materials Produced by Additive Friction Stir Manufacturing ($1837K,

Aeroprobe, FY18) Radiation Effects on Zirconium Alloys Produced by Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing

Processes ($830K, Westinghouse Electric Co., FY17) Irradiation Testing of LWR Additively Manufactured Materials ($1,982K, GE-Hitachi Nuclear

Energy, FY16)

Recent CINR Awarded ProjectsFocus on Key Technologies and Understanding

Welding and Joining Advanced Cladding Performance of SiC-SiC Cladding and Endplug Joints Under Neutron Irradiation with a Thermal

Gradient ($985K, General Atomics, FY17) Advanced Fuel Development

Irradiation, Transient Testing and Post Irradiation Examination of Ultra High Burnup Fuel ($3600K, EPRI, FY17)

Irradiation of Advanced Neutron Absorbing Material to Support Accident Tolerant Fuel ($630K, AREVA, FY17)

Fundamentals for Reactor Materials Improved Understanding of Zircaloy-2 Hydrogen Pickup Mechanism in BWRs ($817K, EPRI, FY17)

~$10.7M

Used for analyses to identify needs, redundancies, efficiencies, distributions, etc., to best understand the utility of DOE-NE’s available infrastructure, inform the content of infrastructure calls, and provide information to NSUF users.

Infrastructure information collected can be combined with information on R&D needs as part of infrastructure gap analysis

Currently 150 institutions operating ~500 facilities housing ~1000 instruments. 80% US domestic, 20% international.

NSUF created a searchable and interactive database of all pertinent infrastructure supported by, or related to, the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE).

Database known as the Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Database (NEID) and can be accessed through the NSUF website (nsuf.inl.gov).

Infrastructure Management Program

Capabilities Data

DOE-NE and Industry Needs

Gap Analyses

Investments and

Partnerships

Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Database (NEID)

Nuclear Fuels and Materials Library (NFML) Includes nuclear fuel and material samples from past

and ongoing irradiation test campaigns, decommissioned power reactors, and donations from other sources.

Intended to reduce costs and take advantage of new ideas and future analysis techniques and equipment.

Contains >6500 searchable samples and corresponding information Irradiation Conditions Experiment information Project reports Characterization Data (2019-2020)

Nuclear Energy Researcher Database (NERD) Data source for:

NSUF Researchers Technical Experts Reviewers

Projects Database

Database IntegrationCombined Materials Experiment Toolkit (CoMET)

NFML

TemperatureDose (DPA)

Flux [x1014 ]Fluence [x1020]

Environment

PLANNEDTemperature

Actual Dose (DPA)

Flux [x1014 ]Fluence [x1020]

Environment

AS RUN DATA

PROJECT NAME

Storage FACILITYNotes

# of SamplesSamples RemainingSpecimen Availability

CertificationCertification Code

Availability Date

CapsulePacket

Material NameMaterial Description

Dimensions

KGT #

Sample ID Code

Material Code

Specimen Type

REACTORREACTOR POSITION

PROJECT NAMEProject ID

CINR #RTE #

NSUF CallAward Date

Start DateEnd DatePI NameTech LeadFacility Tech Lead

Collaborators Documentation

Project Type

INSTITUTIONFACILITY

Research AreaMaterial TypeProposal

PROJECTS DATABASE

REACTORREACTOR POSITION

FACILITYINSTITUTION

NEID

NERD

INSTITUTION

PI/SME NameResearch Area / Subject Matter

The Wizard guides the user through their undertaking (proposal preparation in this case)

Each box in the history represents a stage in the undertaking where a decision was made and/or information/data was input. At each stage of the undertaking, the user is offered access to additional reference data and information.

Multiple team members, NSUF technical experts, program managers, and others can all work on an undertaking at the same time, keeping all information in one place.

The Wizard clearly communicates all relevant information needed for the decision or input required at each stage.

The Wizard is functional from all communication devices

CoMET is Executed through a Process Guidance Application (Wizard)