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Idaho National Laboratory University/College Internships-NUCLEAR Fuel Management, Recycling and Disposal INTERNSHIPS.

The Opportunity:

Internships at Idaho National Laboratory  

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) hosts over 300 undergraduate and graduate students each year to support INL's mission.  Opportunities for interns at INL range from nuclear engineering to cybersecurity and include non-scientific positions in various operations and business disciplines.

Join INL's team and find your exceptional educational experience in a real-world work environment.  INL offers a unique opportunity to learn, collaborate, innovate and conduct research with top researchers and professionals.

The Deliverables:

Interns will spend the first week of their assignment working with their mentor to outline their work scope and to secure resources for a successful internship.  For the next several weeks, the mentor will provide considerable program assistance and guidance to the intern.  In addition to regular activities, interns are invited to attend weekly seminars, tours and community events designed with career development in mind.  Completion of a final project is highly recommended and can be completed through a variety of mediums - a traditional poster, electronic presentation or video.

The Process:

Through this single application, you are considered for all internship projects related to Nuclear Fuel Management. Simply complete the application questions which will help us identify what knowledge and experience you already have that may be related to the preferred qualifications for each individual internship project. It is common for applicants to receive consideration for multiple projects at varying times throughout the process. Mentors will make direct contact with applicants who meet their project qualifications to share the specific details of the project. On average, INL plans for approximately 300 internships each year.  Most internships provide flexibility with start and end dates to account for varying university term schedules.  We encourage early applications to increase the number of opportunities available to you.

The Projects:

--This internship opportunity will give the candidate valuable hands-on experience developing advanced separation methods related to the nuclear fuel cycle and critical materials supply chain. The candidate's work will support flowsheet design for solvent extraction technologies and fission product capture from off gas streams produced by the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel. The work shall primarily focus on conducting laboratory experiments under varying process conditions and applying analytical results to the practical design and implementation of separation processes.

--Work on a research project to understand the fundamental electrochemical behavior of the Rare Earth Oxides in chloride based molten salts. The fundamental electrochemical measurements shall help advance the ongoing studies pertaining to the preparation and/or refining of various Rare Earth metals/alloys from a suitable molten salt medium.

--Work in a radiochemistry laboratory including handling or radioactive samples (tracer concentrations) for measurement of distribution ratios and effects of radiation on solvent extraction. The work involves gamma irradiation of samples followed by LCMS identification of products and remaining parent compound. Responsibilities may include radiolysis of organic acids such as oxalic and glyoxylic acid in aqueous solution or radiation chemistry on a pilot scale, circulating the mixed phases through an irradiated test loop. Additional research interests include actinide solvent extraction, using similar organic metal complexing agents. This includes especially oxidation and batch contact extraction of higher oxidation states of Am. We will be doing small scale pilot tests in centrifugal contactor equipment, using conditions chosen based on the lab scale work. This involves the handling of alpha emitting radionuclide solutions.

--Participate in a research project whose objective is to quantify the effects of radiation damage to organic chemicals.  The organics of interest in this project are used in nuclear fuel cycle separations, specifically for separating the minor actinides Am and Cm from U, Pu and the lanthanide elements.  The research does not involve radioactive work, but does entail analytical measurements performed on solutions of organic complexant molecules that have been exposed to radiation fields, and have undergone radiolytic degradation reactions.  The research will require the participant to learn high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and modern data reduction and interpretation.