The ATR is one of the world's premiere test reactors for performing long term, high flux, and/or large volume irradiation test programs. It is a very versatile facility with a wide variety of experimental test capabilities for providing the environment needed in an irradiation experiment. These different capabilities include passive sealed capsule experiments, instrumented and/or temperature-controlled experiments, and pressurized water loop experiment facilities. The Irradiation Test Vehicle (ITV) installed in 1999 enhanced these capabilities by providing a built in experiment monitoring and control system for instrumented and/or temperature controlled experiments. This built in control system significantly reduces the cost for an actively monitored/temperature controlled experiments by providing the thermocouple connections, temperature control system, and temperature control gas supply and exhaust systems already in place at the irradiation position. Although the ITV in-core hardware was removed from the ATR during the last core replacement completed in early 2005, it (or a similar facility) could be re-installed for an irradiation program when the need arises. The proposed Gas Test Loop currently being designed for installation in the ATR will provide additional capability for testing of not only gas reactor materials and fuels but will also include enhanced fast flux rates for testing of materials and fuels for other next generation reactors including preliminary testing for fast reactor fuels and materials. This paper discusses the different irradiation capabilities available and the cost benefit issues related to each capability.

"The Advanced test Reactor (ATR) is the third generation of test reactors built at the Test Reactor Area (TRA), located in the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), to study the effects of intense neutron and gamma radiation on reactor materials and fuels. ART has a maximum power of 250MW and can provide maximum thermal neutron fluxes of 1E15 neutrons per square centimeter per second. this allows considerable acceleration of accumulated neutron fluence to materials and fuels over what would be seen in a typical power reactor. Since power operation of the ATR began in 1969, numerous testing methods have been developed to take advantage of the capabilities of the ATR. The wide range of experimental facilities in the ATR and the unique ability to vary the neutron flux in different areas of the core allow numerous experiment conditions to co-exist during the same reactor operating cycle. Simple experiments may involve a non-instrumented sealed capsule containing test specimens with no real-time monitoring and control capabilities. More sophisticated testing facilities include inert gas temperature control systems and pressurized water loops that have continuous chemistry, pressure, temperature, and flow control as well as numerous test specimen monitoring capabilities. There are also apparatus that allow for the simulation of reactor transients on test specimens. The Irradiation Test Vehicle, installed in 1999, is the newest testing apparatus in the ATR that accommodates up to fifteen separate tests, each with its own temperature control and monitoring capabilities as well as neutron spectral tailoring capability. The U.S. Department of Energy intends to maintain and expand the capabilities of the ATR to ensure it remains a viable facility for the Department's materials and fuels testing programs for the foreseeable future." -- Page[1].

Materials in a nuclear environment are exposed to extreme conditions of radiation, temperature and/or corrosion, and in many cases the combination of these makes the material behavior very different from conventional materials. This is evident for the four major technological challenges the nuclear technology domain is facing currently: (i) long-term operation of existing Generation II nuclear power plants, (ii) the design of the next generation reactors (Generation IV), (iii) the construction of the ITER fusion reactor in Cadarache (France), (iv) and the intermediate and final disposal of nuclear waste. In order to address these challenges, engineers and designers need to know the properties of a wide variety of materials under these conditions and to understand the underlying processes affecting changes in their behavior, in order to assess their performance and to determine the limits of operation. Comprehensive Nuclear Materials, Second Edition, Seven Volume Set provides broad ranging, validated summaries of all the major topics in the field of nuclear material research for fission as well as fusion reactor systems. Attention is given to the fundamental scientific aspects of nuclear materials: fuel and structural materials for fission reactors, waste materials, and materials for fusion reactors. The articles are written at a level that allows undergraduate students to understand the material, while providing active researchers with a ready reference resource of information. Most of the chapters from the first Edition have been revised and updated and a significant number of new topics are covered in completely new material. During the ten years between the two editions, the challenge for applications of nuclear materials has been significantly impacted by world events, public awareness, and technological innovation. Materials play a key role as enablers of new technologies, and we trust that this new edition of Comprehensive Nuclear Materials has captured the key recent developments. Critically reviews the major classes and functions of materials, supporting the selection, assessment, validation and engineering of materials in extreme nuclear environments Comprehensive resource for up-to-date and authoritative information which is not always available elsewhere, even in journals Provides an in-depth treatment of materials modeling and simulation, with a specific focus on nuclear issues Serves as an excellent entry point for students and researchers new to the field

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is one of the world's premier test reactors for providing the capability for studying the effects of intense neutron and gamma radiation on reactor materials and fuels. The physical configuration of the ATR, a 4-leaf clover shape, allows the reactor to be operated at different power levels in the corner "lobes" to allow for different testing conditions for multiple simultaneous experiments. The combination of high flux (maximum thermal neutron fluxes of 1E15 neutrons per square centimeter per second and maximum fast [E>1.0 MeV] neutron fluxes of 5E14 neutrons per square centimeter per second) and large test volumes (up to 122 cm long and 12.7 cm diameter) provide unique testing opportunities. For future research, some ATR modifications and enhancements are currently planned. In 2007 the US Department of Energy designated the ATR as a National Scientific User Facility (NSUF) to facilitate greater access to the ATR for material testing research by a broader user community. This paper provides more details on some of the ATR capabilities, key design features, experiments, and plans for the NSUF.

The United States Department of Energy's Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program will be irradiating eight separate low enriched uranium (LEU) oxycarbide (UCO) tri-isotopic (TRISO) particle fuel (in compact form) experiments in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the newly formed Idaho National Laboratory (INL). These irradiations and fuel development are being accomplished to support development of the next generation reactors in the United States. The ATR has a long history of irradiation testing in support of reactor development and the INL has been designated as the new United States Department of Energy's lead laboratory for nuclear energy development. The ATR is one of the world's premiere test reactors for performing long term, high flux, and/or large volume irradiation test programs. These AGR fuel experiments will be irradiated over the next ten years to demonstrate and qualify new particle fuel for use in high temperature gas reactors. The goals of the irradiation experiments are to provide irradiation performance data to support fuel process development, to qualify fuel for normal operating conditions, to support development and validation of fuel performance and fission product transport models and codes, and to provide irradiated fuel and materials for post irradiation examination (PIE) and safety testing. The experiments, which will each consist of six separate capsules, will be irradiated in an inert sweep gas atmosphere with individual on-line temperature monitoring and control for each capsule. The swept gas will also have on-line fission product monitoring to track performance of the fuel in each individual capsule during irradiation.