FUEL FABRICATION, IRRADIATION, CHARACTERIZATION, POST IRRADIATION EXAMINATION, PROCESS DEVELOPMENT
The Fuels and Applied Science Building (FASB) is a radiological facility that houses small hot cells, gloveboxes, hoods, and a variety of equipment that supports nuclear energy research and development. This facility is a key part of the fuel development mission of the Materials and Fuels Complex at Idaho National Laboratory. FASB's capabilities include research and development related to nuclear fuel fabrication, used fuel treatment options, nuclear waste management, and other scientific activities.
The FASB west room contains
inert atmosphere gloveboxes used for development of various nuclear fuels,
treating waste from glovebox operations, working with corrosive materials and
testing equipment that will be used in other facilities. A set of small hot
cells houses an irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking system used for
evaluating structural material for nuclear light water reactor life extension.
The east room contains
material processing areas, a thermal properties laboratory, a sample
preparation area and a characterization area that contains electron and optical
microscopes and X-ray diffraction X-ray fluorescence equipment.
The building houses laboratory scale fuel fabrication capability for both dispersion and foil bearing nuclear fuel plates, a pyrochemistry glovebox housing a laboratory scale electrorefiner and other furnaces to perform separations experiments. It also has a set of hot cells, including one that houses an irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking system that measures corrosion and crack propagation in nuclear reactor structural materials as part of the light water reactor life extension program.
The building also contains a sample preparation and characterization suite with optical and electron microscopes, thermal properties and other characterization equipment.
Basic Capabilities:
Uranium fuel development at all enrichments
Materials characterization
IASCC testing of irradiated materials
Multiple uranium gloveboxes to support fuel development
Cobalt-60 gamma irradiator with a radiolysis/hydrolysis test loop
Instruments: