The Materials and Chemistry Laboratory (MCLinc) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee is now a fully commercial facility that had its origins as an applied research center for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) uranium enrichment enterprise.  As such, MCLinc applies its expertise in uranium chemistry and material identification to samples originating from both Federal facilities (e.g., DOE, COE and their subcontractors) and commercial clients (e.g., nuclear engineering firms and NRC-licensed clients). The commercial client side frequently focuses on industrial forensic issues as applied to nuclear materials, such as resolution of material incompatibilities or failures and chemical process upsets, but support also includes treatability studies for recalcitrant radioactive wastes, as well as more routine, but highly specialized, analyses that are required to qualify low enrichment nuclear fuel. Support to federal contractors, including DOE National Laboratories, frequently involves application of micro-analytical techniques such as scanning electron microscopy to identify morphological and chemical signatures, and impurities, associated with highly enriched uranium from various process origins and from legacy wastes.  Some representative illustrative examples will be presented for each of these categories.

Nuclear forensics support at a commercial licensed laboratory

245th National Meeting (2013)

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