Following the decision to close the Tritium System Test Assembly facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the OFES selected the INL as the home of their new tritium research facility in October of 2000.
This facility, now
Following the decision to close the Tritium System Test Assembly facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the OFES selected the INL as the home of their new tritium research facility in October of 2000.
This facility, now called the Safety and Tritium Applied Research Facility (STAR), is a DOE less than hazard category 3 facility, with the unique capability of handling radioactive and toxic materials.
Typical experiments in the STAR facility include the use of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and a likely fuel for future fusion reactors, activated structural materials, such as tungsten samples irradiated in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, along with other hazardous materials like beryllium, lithium, lead and fluoride salt compounds.
STAR allows researchers to develop and use small-to moderate-level tritium experiments that would be too burdensome to pe