The nuclear science user facilities (NSUF) impact on fuel cycle research

The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) is a consortium of capabilities providing access to irradiation testing of nuclear fuels and materials to accelerate fuel cycle research and development. The primary focus of the NSUF is the fundamental and applied science of irradiation effects in nuclear fuels and materials. A full suite of post-irradiation examination (PIE) instrumentation is available within the NSUF for microstructure, mass and thermal transport, interface interactions, corrosion, and other studies of advanced concept and accident tolerant fuels, as well as traditional metallic, ceramic, and particle fuel types. The paper discusses current capabilities available within the NSUF, and demonstrates the NSUF's applicability in advancing the scientific understanding of how macroscopic performance properties are driven by the underlying microstructure morphology. NSUF supports projects in traditional materials (e.g., austenitic and ferritic-martensitic steels, Ni and Zr alloys) as well as newer, promising materials, such as FeCrAl, MAX phase, and nanostructured materials.