User Facilities
Providing state-of-the-art resources for researchers across the nation and around the world
INL is a critical hub for performing research, design, development and deployment. Excelling in our mission requires the ability to connect vitally important INL facilities to national and international industry, university, and other national laboratories. INL runs two major user facilities open to the international community.
The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) are part of a growing number of Department of Energy user facilities in the U.S., and is the nation’s only designated nuclear energy user facility. Through a peer-reviewed proposal process, NSUF provides external research teams cost-free access to reactor, post-irradiation examination and beamline capabilities at INL and a diverse mix of affiliated partner institutions at universities, national laboratories and industry facilities located across the country.
Biomass Feedstock National User Facility
Researchers work with producers of their specific biofuels and bioproducts to reduce biomass feedstock variability and produce high quality feedstock from grass, wood, and agricultural residues. Facilities include pilot-and-bench-scale preprocessing units for feedstock drying, size and ash reduction, blending and densification, plus laboratories for physical and chemical analyses of resulting biomass and engineered biomass feedstocks.
