(547a) Materials Characterization Capabilities of the Uranium Science and Technology Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The science surrounding uranium processing was mainly developed during the Cold War via weapons programs. As a result, knowledge of the fundamental chemistry and kinetics of the processing was overshadowed by a need for fast and reliable production at an industrial scale. The Uranium Science and Technology Center (USTC) will be a pilot-scale program that will study the chemical processing of uranium in both pre- and post-enrichment procedures. This will include dissolution, separations, precipitation, calcination, and halide conversion. USTC is a part of the Nonproliferation Stewardship Program and supports the goal of ensuring the US nuclear workforce maintains technical skills and capabilities. USTC will act both a R&D space for understanding fundamental science of uranium processing and as a training space for users to develop skills with sophisticated equipment and instrumentation.