Workshop on a National Irradiation Sciences User Facility

As a result of the increased interest in the role of fundamental science in securing our energy future, a series of community workshops have been organized to better understand research needs and directions.  In the area of nuclear energy, two workshop reports have addressed this topic: "Basic Research Needs for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems" * and "Basic Research Needs for Materials Under Extreme Environments." *   A common theme emerging from these and other efforts is the need to advance the fundamental materials science of nuclear materials and to provide and advance the modeling and experimental tools required to do so.  A critical, but currently missing element of such appears to be easy access to state of the art irradiation and post-irradiation examination facilities, in spite of the fact that much of this infrastructure already exists within the Office of Science complex and elsewhere. 

Access to these irradiation and characterization assets is quite limited and often not possible for most scientists, even though much of the infrastructure, including an impressive array of state-of-the-art tools are currently maintained for nuclear work within the Office of Science laboratories and funded university programs. The establishment of a national irradiation sciences user facility could well encourage scientific progress in the area of materials irradiation science by removing a key roadblock to the working with irradiated materials.  As with other BES scientific user facilities, access would be achieved based on prioritized peer reviewed proposals where the costs of irradiation and examination would not accrue to the user. 

To gauge interest and gather input into how such a user facility could best serve the national and international scientific community, a workshop bringing together specialists in the area of irradiated materials is being organized by Brian Wirth (UC-B) and Bob Averback (UI) and hosted by ORNL (April 16, 2009, with a tour of HFIR and ORNL irradiation capabilities on April 15, 2009, and report writing on April 17, 2009.) A series of invited talks describing needs and status in the areas of nuclear fuels, structural materials, and modeling would serve as the starting point for community discussion and definition of the overall concept of a national user facility for materials irradiation sciences.

Goals and Expected Outcomes 

1. Identify the breadth of interest within the nuclear materials science community for a basic research user facility for materials irradiation sciences.
2. Assess community basic research needs (including those articulated in the basic research needs workshops) in light of current and future capabilities to determine fundamental scientific value and timing of establishment of such a facility.
3. Produce a report summarizing needs, status, and suggested path forward for such a national irradiation sciences user facility, including DOE Office of Science assets, university facilities, and cooperating foreign research organizations.

* More details are available at http://www.er.doe.gov/bes/reports.