67 2015 Irradiated Materials Characterization Laboratory The IMCL, at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex (formerly Argonne-West), incorporates many features designed to allow researchers to safely and efficiently prepare and conduct microstructural-level investigations on irradiated fuel. Its design provides modular radiological shielding and confinement systems for advanced characterization instruments that are sensitive to vibration, temperature and electromagnetic interference.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.