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Research Facilities

ISU has many facilities that are available for educational and research use. These include the Idaho Accelerator Center in the Physics Department and a Nuclear Science research laboratory in the Nuclear Engineering & Health Physics Department. The Idaho National Laboratory offers even more research opportunities. The following is a partial list of some of the research and educational equipment on campus.

Center for Advanced Energy Studies

  • The Advanced Material Laboratory - contains a Spark Plasma Sintering system, which allows researchers to combine metal and ceramic powders to produce new materials.
  • The Analytical Chemistry Laboratory - is used to analyze samples produced in neighboring labs and by fellow researchers. They use a mass spectrometer to identify the elemental composition of samples.
  • The Radiochemistry Laboratory - researchers are working to convert used nuclear fuel into more manageable waste forms. They are developing an electrochemical treatment process to separate used fuel into uranium metal and ceramic and metal wastes.
  • The Analytical Instrumentation Laboratory - is used to analyze samples taken at commercial nuclear power plants to determine the amount of radioactive elements being released.
  • The Fluids Laboratory - is used primarily by CASE carbon management researchers. It contains several "reactors" in which researchers can test basalt and other regional rock types that potentially could be used to store greenhouse gases.
  • The Instrument Repair Shop - doubles as a lab for INL researchers who are investigating the vulnerabilities of wireless sensor networks such as the one at CASE. The center's laboratories and office space provide an environment similar to an industrial setting.

Health Physics/Environmental Monitoring Lab

  • 100 and 200 keV Multi-Ion Implanter
  • 100 keV Cockcroft-Walton Accelerators
  • 2 MV Positive Ion Van de Graaff Accelerator with five Beam Lines
  • 1.7 MeV Tandem
  • 4 MeV Electron Linac
  • NIST traceable sources
  • Standard gamma, beta, alpha, and neutron sources
  • Plutonium-Beryllium (PuBe) source and howitzer
  • High Purity Germanium (HPGe) gamma spectroscopy systems
  • Sodium Iodide (NaI) gamma spectroscopy systems
  • Sodium Iodide (NaI) well counter
  • Thin-window gas flow proportional counting systems
  • Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC) systems
  • Portable Instrumentation
  • 3.4 MeV Pulse Electron Injector

Nuclear Engineering & Health Physics Department

  • AGN-201 Five watt Nuclear Reactor
  • Subcritical Facility
  • Gamma Spectroscopy Counting System
  • Gas flow proportional counting systems
  • Two-Phase Flow Loop
  • Flowmeter Calibration Facility

Computational Facilities

  • IBM RS-6000 Workstation, including access to CRAY Supercomputer
  • DEC 5000 Workstation, including access to "Moscow Campus Computer"
  • HP Apollo 700 Workstation
  • X-Terminal Accessible from Accelerator labs
  • Personal PCs, network workstations and Internet access