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Contract Opportunity

TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY

Scintillation Hydrogel for Isotopic Neutron Emitters (SHINE)

A groundbreaking scintillation hydrogel that enables efficient, cost-effective thermal neutron detection while adapting to any shape at room temperature.

Opportunity: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), offers the opportunity to explore a license and/or collaborative research agreement to commercialize SHINE. This technology transfer opportunity is part of a dedicated effort to convert government-funded research into job opportunities, businesses, and, ultimately, an improved way of life for the American people.

Overview: Advanced scintillation compounds, with both liquid and solid properties, promise more efficient, stable, and safer operation of neutron detectors. Presently, helium-3 (He-3) is utilized in neutron detectors due to its large capture cross-section for neutrons. However, helium-3 is increasingly scarce and expensive. Developing improved scintillator materials for compact neutron detectors provides a viable alternative to He-3 detectors, enabling widespread protection against the import of nuclear materials and weapons.

Description: INL researchers have developed SHINE, an innovative neutron detection material that combines the best properties of liquid and solid scintillators while minimizing the disadvantages of these compounds. SHINE takes advantage of liquid scintillators' positive aspects and circumvents solid polymers' stability issues by maintaining a semi-solid gel state. This gel can be tailored to a specific wavelength of light for optimal scintillation within the detector. Moreover, SHINE is non-toxic, environmentally friendly, quickly manufactured on-site, produces high light yields, and can discriminate between neutrons and gamma rays.

Benefits:

• Lower cost


• Compact design


• Environmentally friendly


• Rapid manufacturing time


• Adapts to any shape in seconds, allowing seamless integration with existing neutron detection technology.


• Adjustable sensitivity to various incident radiation.


• Superior light yield and resolution compared to current scintillators.

Applications:

• Replacing He-3 neutron detectors for:
  
  
  
  • Special nuclear material detection
  
  
  • Nuclear reactor monitoring as a failsafe detection
  
  
  
  


• Enhancing spatial resolution in medical imaging


• Health physics for neutrons and gamma dose monitors


• Security applications (e.g., TSA)


• High Energy Physics (HEP) for particle and photon imaging


• Geological Survey for uranium and thorium via spectroscopy


• Mineral exploration


• Oil and gas (density, spectroscopy)


• Space exploration as an alternative to HpGe, which requires cooling and has higher background levels than SHINE.

Development Status: TRL 3. Undergoing proof-of-concept work.

IP Status: Provisional Patent Application No. 63/481,514, “Scintillation Compositions and Related Hydrogels for Isotopic Neutron and Gamma Radiation Detection, and Related Detection Systems and Methods,” BEA Docket No. BA-1387.

INL is seeking to license the above intellectual property to a company with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Exclusive rights in defined fields of use may be available. Added value is placed on relationships with small businesses, start-up companies, and general entrepreneurship opportunities.

Please visit Technology Deployment’s website at https://inl.gov/inl-initiatives/technology-deployment for more information on working with INL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Companies interested in learning more about this licensing opportunity should contact Andrew Rankin at td@inl.gov.

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