Licensing Opportunity: INSET (In-Pile Steady-State Extreme Temperature Testbed)
Closed Special Notice Posted
- Solicitation number
- 2024-09-11-V
- Agency
-
Department of Energy
- Responses due
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- Place of performance
- Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United States
- Points of contact
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The Department of Energy has published a Special Notice for a licensing opportunity related to the INSET (In-Pile Steady-State Extreme Temperature Testbed) technology. This vacuum furnace allows for testing of materials, sensors, and nuclear fuels at extremely high temperatures up to 2300°C, under radiation conditions, for use in advanced nuclear reactors and nuclear thermal rocket propulsion.
The purpose of this Special Notice is to make this INSET technology available for licensing. The technology offers a low-cost, modular solution for high-temperature testing in a nuclear environment, which is currently lacking. The Special Notice provides an overview of the technology's capabilities and benefits, and invites interested parties to contact the Department of Energy for more information by the due date of October 26, 2024. There are no set-aside or eligibility requirements specified, and the technology is available for licensing to any interested parties within the nuclear reactor and space propulsion industries.
Notice text
Invention Reference Number: 202305542
Currently there is no capability to test materials, sensors, and nuclear fuels at extremely high temperatures and under radiation conditions for nuclear thermal rocket propulsion or advanced reactors. This technology is a low-cost, modular, vacuum furnace that is compatible with nuclear reactors and other irradiation facilities. Made of aluminum, its unique graphite insulation and heating element give this furnace unique capabilities for testing of materials, sensors and fuel up to 2300 C. Capable of steady state or rapid thermal transits, it can be used in the lab and also placed inside a nuclear reactor or other irradiation facility.
Description
The IN-Pile Steady-State Extreme Temperature Testbed (INSET) is a vacuum furnace that allows extremely high temperature tests in a nuclear environment. Its 8-inch in diameter is designed to be placed into any reactor or irradiation facility with a port big enough to hold it; made with low-neutron activation materials so radioactivity is not induced and can be handled shortly after irradiation. Its unique heating element is graphite with molybdenum and graphite insulation. Many advanced nuclear reactors being designed operate at elevated temperatures above the standard PWR based reactor and need a platform for testing and qualification of their materials, fuel, and sensors before they are built and licensed. Systems for interspace rocket propulsion will use nuclear reactors up to 2300 C, but there is currently no way to test materials at that level except with this instrument. This technology allows testing of materials, instruments, and fuel under radiation at very high temperatures, up to 2300 C steady state or transient, to determine if a material or sensor will survive or degrade under such extreme environments.
Benefits
- Only technology that can test at extremely high temperatures in nuclear environment
- Low cost (under $15,000)
Applications and Industries
- Nuclear reactor industry
- Space propulsion industry
Contact
To learn more about this technology, email partnerships@ornl.gov or call 865-574-1051.
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