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Contract Opportunity

TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY

Eu-152/154 Contamination Training Tiles

Eu-152/154 Sol-Gel glass particles are embedded in a durable substrate for safer emergency response training in controlled contaminated areas.

Opportunity: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), is offering to explore a license and/or collaborative research agreement to commercialize these contamination training tiles. 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: INL supports training personnel, technology evaluation, and demonstration for federal agencies responsible for emergency response and the U.S. nuclear forensics mission. Private companies predominantly train the municipal response community. Training with actual radioactive materials poses challenges due to their biological and environmental radiotoxicity. Training venues typically include localized indoor and outdoor large area RDD. These properties restrict their use in training to sealed sources. Currently, no practical way exists to modify or configure sealed sources to simulate large-area radiological contamination environments.

Description: INL researchers have developed a solution using europium 152/154 sol-gel glass particulate encapsulated within a robust, walkable substrate resembling standard floor tiles or door mats. Multiple substrates can be produced and placed throughout the training venue to create a realistic large-area contamination environment. Eu-152/154 tiles can be made with similar or varying activities to simulate consistent contamination deposition or hot spots. After training, the Eu-152/154 tiles can be collected, stored, and reused for future training events. With half-lives of 1.3 to 13.5 years, Eu-152/154 tiles offer a cost-effective and safe method for long-term contamination training.

Benefits:

• Long-lasting training tool with half-lives of 1.3 to 13.5 years, providing substantial cost savings through one-time investment.


• Reusable and suitable for multiple training events.


• Low to no biological/environmental toxicity


• Removes the need to disperse liquid radioactive contamination throughout the training venue.

Applications:

• Contamination training for emergency response and municipal response.


• Large-area contamination training in indoor localized venues and outdoor large-area Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) environments.

Development Status: TRL 4 - system has been validated in a laboratory environment.

IP Status: Patent Filing No. 17/661,849, “Reusable Structures Containing Isotopes for Simulating Radioactive Contamination Environments and Methods of Formation,” BEA Docket No. BA-1293.

INL seeks 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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