Experimenters get access to NSUF facilities for irradiation effects studies

July 1, 2025, 7:04AMNuclear News

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy announced the recipients of “first call” 2025 Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) awards on June 26. The 23 proposals selected from industry, national laboratories, and universities will receive a total of about $1.4 million. While each project is led by a different principal investigator, some call the same organization home. A total of 17 companies, labs, and universities are represented.

A material objective: RTEs are directed at understanding material behavior under irradiation to develop more resilient materials for nuclear applications, and awards for this call focus on improving the performance and safety of materials in nuclear environments. Key studies include mitigating stress corrosion in stainless steel, enhancing reactor performance of silicon carbide (SiC), and investigating the irradiation effects on advanced alloys.

The NSUF recipients do not receive direct financial awards. Instead, recipients get access to capabilities such as experimental irradiation testing, postirradiation examination, and beamlines. They also get technical assistance to design and complete their projects.

Recipients: Research proposals were competitively selected and evaluated on a variety of factors, including technical approach, mission relevance, and scientific-technical merit. The recent round of awards went to researchers from two companies—Oklo and TerraPower; three national laboratories—Idaho National Laboratory (four awards), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (two awards); and 13 universities—Boise State University, Johns Hopkins University, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University, United States Naval Academy, University of Florida (two awards), University of Huddersfield (U.K.), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (two awards), University of Oxford (U.K.), and University of Pittsburgh.

More on NSUF RTEs: A second RTE call for fiscal year 2025 opened on June 18, and proposals must be submitted by 6:00 p.m. (EDT) on July 16. View current and past awards here.


Related Articles

DOE releases 2025 NEUP and NSUF funding

March 6, 2026, 1:06PMNuclear News

On March 3, the Department of Energy announced the release of $52.8 million in funds through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) and the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF)...

Washington legislators look to nuclear

February 26, 2026, 7:19AMNuclear News

It has been an unusually busy week in the world of West Coast nuclear legislative momentum. In California, a bill is aiming to effectively repeal the state’s nuclear moratorium, while in...

INL opens molten salt testing facility

February 25, 2026, 8:12AMNuclear News

Idaho National Laboratory has announced that the National Reactor Innovation Center’s Molten Salt Thermophysical Examination Capability (MSTEC) facility will begin operations in March...

Hanford exhaust stack demolished

February 24, 2026, 1:12PMNuclear News

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management recently announced that, with the help of contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company, it has completed the safe demolition of...

Ward250 reactor rides cargo to Utah

February 18, 2026, 9:42AMNuclear News

A public-private partnership between the Departments of Defense and Energy and Valar Atomics marked a milestone over the weekend when Valar’s Ward250 microreactor was transported (without...