POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION
The Irradiated Materials Characterization Laboratory (IMCL) is a unique, 12,000-square-foot facility located at Idaho National Laboratory's Materials and Fuels Complex. The hazard category 2 facility incorporates many features designed to allow researchers to prepare and conduct microstructural-level investigations on irradiated fuel safely and efficiently.
IMCL focuses on microstructural, microchemical, and micromechanical analysis and thermophysical characterization of irradiated nuclear fuels and materials. IMCL's unique design incorporates advanced characterization instruments that are sensitive to vibration, temperature, and electromagnetic interference into modular radiological shielding and confinement systems. The shielded instruments allow characterization of highly radioactive fuels and materials at the micro, nano, and atomic levels, the scale at which irradiation damage processes occur.
Enabled by its modular
design, IMCL will continue to evolve and improve capability throughout its
40-year design life to meet the national and international user demand for
high-end characterization instruments for the study of nuclear fuel and
materials.
Combined with INL’s
advanced computer modeling techniques, this understanding will enable advanced
fuel designs, and reduce the time needed for fuel development and licensing.
Basic Capabilities:
Preparation of high-activity samples
Optical microscopy
Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA)
Dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB)
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
Local electrode atom probe
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Measurement of material, physical and thermal properties
Thermal property characterization
X-ray microscopy (XRM)
X-ray diffractometer (XRD)
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