Up Close: Materials Science at Argonne National Laboratory

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Basic and applied materials research at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is conducted by the Materials Science Division (MSD) and the Materials and Components Technology Division (MCT). Of the $30 million annual budget, $23 million comes from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that funds Basic Energy Sciences (BES)-Materials Sciences, Reactor Development, Fusion Energy, Fossil Energy, and Conservation Technology. Another $5 million of the $30 million budget comes from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the remaining $2 million is from the Department of Defense.

Representative projects in fission energy include fuel element behavior in the Advanced Breeder Reactor, fuel development for the Integral Fast Reactor, and supporting research in aqueous corrosion and in phase stability.

Materials research for fusion environments includes containment materials, liquid metal compatibility, vanadium alloy development, defect production processes, radiation-induced segregation, sputtering of self-replenishing low atomic number coatings, and ultrahigh field superconductors.