Nonreactor Nuclear Facilities at ORNL
Nonreactor Nuclear Facilities experts at ORNL manages, maintains, and modernizes a complex system of nuclear research facilities that support essential science and engineering missions for the United States. These facilities enable advanced materials testing, isotope handling, nuclear fuels research, nearly every phase of radiochemical processing, and safe operations that accelerate breakthroughs in medicine, national security, industry, and basic science.
What Are Nonreactor Nuclear Facilities?
What Are Nonreactor Nuclear Facilities?
These specialized labs and infrastructure support nuclear science and technology, employing shielded hot cells and gloveboxes that allow for work with radioactive materials; labs outfitted with cutting-edge tools for isotope R&D; and specialized handling systems to manage irradiated materials, nuclear fuels, isotopes, and other radioactive samples safely and efficiently.
This division’s work is critical to U.S. research and applications because it enables controlled testing, precision handling, and quality processing of nuclear materials that cannot be safely performed in conventional laboratory settings.
Key Nonreactor Facilities
Radiochemical Engineering Development Center (REDC)
- The REDC complex consists of heavily shielded labs dedicated to processing and handling radioisotopes used worldwide in research, medicine, space, and industry.
Irradiated Materials Examination and Testing Facility (IMET)
- IMET conducts receipt, testing (both destructive and nondestructive), and examination of irradiated materials, neutron samples, and test specimens.
Irradiated Fuels Examination Laboratory (IFEL)
- IFEL focuses on the chemical and physical analysis of reactor fuels and advanced materials after irradiation.
Radioisotope Development Laboratory (RDL)
- The RDL facility is used exclusively to produce actinium-227, used for cancer treatment, for the US Department of Energy’s Isotope Program.
Isotope Research Materials Laboratory (IRML)
- The IRML facility provides enriched stable isotopes in specialized forms for the medical, industrial, national security and scientific communities.
FAQs: Nonreactor Nuclear Facilities
FAQs: Nonreactor Nuclear Facilities
What is a nonreactor nuclear facility?
- Nonreactor nuclear facilities are specialized labs and processing centers designed to support nuclear research, material handling, and examination. These facilities do not include an in-house nuclear reactor.
Who uses these facilities?
- Scientists, engineers, technicians, isotope program staff, and national security researchers use NNFD facilities to conduct complex work that cannot be done in conventional laboratories.
How Facilities Support U.S. Priorities
The division’s work underpins many national priorities:
- Healthcare & Medicine: Supporting isotope production infrastructure and handling.
- National Security: Enabling testing and handling of nuclear materials for defense and nonproliferation studies.
- Industrial Innovation: Providing facilities for materials testing, irradiation experiments, and advanced characterization.
- Scientific Discovery: Powering research that advances nuclear fuels, element synthesis, and radiochemistry.
