INL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

X-Ray Radiography Coatings

Corrosion

Fracture and Mechanical Testing

High Temperature Mechanical 

Properties

Hydrogen Production and Storage 

Materials

Hydrogen Separation Materials

Irradiation

Materials Validation

Microstructure and Physical Properties

Modeling

Neutron Radiography

Nondestructive Evaluation

Post-irradiation Examination

Synthesis and Processing of Novel 

Materials

Welding and Joining

X-Ray Radiography

Capabilities/Facilities

Digital radiography 

facilities include a 

variety of detector 

systems, including scanning 

linear arrays, 2D area detectors, and real-time-imaging 

capabilities. Spatial resolution 

on the order of 15-30 mm 

for small particles or higher 

resolution for larger objects. 

Imaging and image-processing capabilities for detection 

and evaluation of defects in 

large volumes of particles.

Computed tomography (CT) 

systems with resolution on the 

order of tens of microns for 

small particles can be used to 

detect defects, density variations and delaminations, as 

well as for metrology. Capabilities include commercial 

fan-beam scanners and reconfigurable laboratory systems, 

including first generation 

systems for density/material 

identification, 3D fan beam 

(spiral CT) for objects up to 

700 mm in diameter, and 3D 

cone beam systems capable 

of scanning objects ranging in 

size from 1 mm to 1 m.

Other capabilities include 

high-energy X-ray fluorescence (XRF) imaging for 

material identification (point 

measurements or CT), and 

low energy XRF and phasecontrast imaging a using 

laser-Compton X-ray source 

in collaboration with Idaho 

State University.

Materials

Containerized waste, unexploded ordinance, coated fuel 

particles. 

Scientific/Engineering 

Issues

• High-spatial resolution and 

high-contrast resolution 

imaging

• Detection and visualization of small voids, density 

defects, delaminations

• Tomographic reconstructions from limited-angle 

data sets

• Detection and visualization 

of flow pathways through 

porous media.

Staff

T.J. Roney, T.A. White, 

R.J. Pink, K.M. Wendt, and 

M. Smith (Idaho State University).

Recent Projects

“Field-Portable X-ray Imaging Systems” (U.S. Army)—

Developing the capability to 

bring high-resolution digital 

radiography and CT systems 

out of the lab and to the 

part that is to be examined. 

Systems capable of examining 

objects as large as 85-gallon 

drums have been developed 

and used for unexploded ordinance and hazardous-waste 

remediation tasks. 

“Laser-Compton X-Ray 

Source and Accelerator-Based 

XRF (AXRF) Imaging” (Laboratory-Directed Research 

and Development)—Development of a tunable, monochromatic, hard X-ray source that 

does not require a synchrotron. This source generates 

X-rays from the interaction 

of a laser beam and a highenergy electron beam. The Xrays from this source should 

be very useful for imaging 

low-contrast materials and for 

material identification, e.g., in 

the detection and quantification of leakage/distribution of 

uranium outside the kernel of 

a fuel particle.

Collaborations

Medical Imaging Research 

Laboratory, University of 

Utah (Dr. Frederic Noo, Dr. 

Rolf Clackdoyle)—Novel 

data-collection geometries 

and reconstruction algorithms 

for fan- and cone-beam 

computed tomography, reconstruction of data 

acquired with limited-angular 

sampling, region-of-interest 

imaging.

Idaho Accelerator Center, IdaContinued on back

A portion of a radiograph of surrogate fuel particles. These particles 

have a high-density core and two thin outer layers. Defects can be 

seen in many of the particles.
INL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

05-GA50193-37

Continued from front

ho State University (Dr. Frank 

Harmon, Dr. Doug Wells, Dr. 

Alan Hunt)—Acceleratorbased X-ray fluorescence for 

examination of radioactive/

hazardous waste, novel detectors for emission/transmission 

X-ray imaging.

Publications

“Doppler Broadening 

Measurements of Positron 

Annihilation using Bremsstrahlung Radiation,” F.A. 

Selim, D.P. Wells, J.F. Harmon, W. Scates, J. Kwofie, 

R. Spaulding, S.P. Duttagupta, 

J.L. Jones, T. White and 

T. Roney, 11th International 

Positron Conference, Santa 

Fe, NM, July, 2001. (Accepted for publication in Nucl. 

Instr. Meth. B, 2002.)

“Development of Accelerator–Based X-ray Fluorescence 

for Large Sample Assay,” 

D.P. Wells, F.A. Selim, 

J.F. Harmon, W. Scates, 

J. Kwofie, R. Spaulding, 

S.P. Duttagupta, J.L. Jones, 

T. White and T. Roney, 40th 

International Denver Xray Conference, Steamboat 

Springs, CO, July 2001. 

(Advances in X-Ray Analysis, 

Vol. 45, 2002.)

“Development of Bremsstrahlung-based Positron Probe 

for Assay and Defect Analysis,” F.A. Selim, D.P. Wells, 

F.J. Harmon, J. Kwofie, W. 

Scates, R. Spaulding, G. Erickson, S.A. Parke, S.P. Duttagupta, J.L. Jones, T. White 

and T. Roney, 1st Inland 

Northwest Research Alliance 

Conference on Sub-surface 

Science, 2001.

“Accelerator-Based XRF 

for Subsurface Science,” 

J. Kwofie, D.P. Wells, 

F.A. Selim, F. Harmon, 

W. Scates, R. Spaulding, 

G. Erickson, S.A. Parke, 

S.P. Duttagupta, J.L. Jones, 

T. White and T. Roney, 1st 

Inland Northwest Research 

Alliance Conference on Subsurface Science, Aug. 2001.

“Characterization of RH-TRU 

and Lead-Lined Drums Using 

X-Ray Imaging Techniques,” 

T.J. Roney and T.A. White, 

INEEL report INEEL/EXT2001-00625.

“Estimation of Geometrical 

Parameters in Spiral CT,” 

F. Noo, T.A. White, R. Clackdoyle, and T.J. Roney, IEEE 

Medical Imaging Conference, 

October 2000.

“Comparison of Fan-and 

Cone-beam Imaging Capabilities on a Portable X-ray Imaging System,” T.A. White, T.J. 

Roney, R.J. Pink, M. Smith, 

R. Clackdoyle, and F. Noo, 

SPIE International Symposium on Optical Science, 

Engineering, and Instrumentation, July 1999.

“Portable Gamma-Ray Transmission System for Identification of Chemical Agents,” T.J. 

Roney, T.A. White, R.J. Pink, 

M. Smith, and W. Jones, SPIE 

International Symposium on 

Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 

July 1999.

“Noniterative Methods for 

Scanner Calibration in ConeBeam Tomography,” F. Noo, 

C. Mennessier, R. Clackdoyle, 

T.A. White and T.J. Roney, 

International Meeting on 

Fully Three-Dimensional Image Reconstruction in Nuclear Medicine and Radiology, 

June 1999.

“The Dual-Ellipse Cross 

Vertex Path for Exact Reconstruction of Long Objects in 

Cone-Beam Tomography,” 

F. Noo, R. Clackdoyle, 

T.A. White, and T.J. Roney, 

Physics in Medicine and Biology, IOP Publishing Ltd., 43 

(1998) p. 797.

“Conebeam Microtomography Using a 

Fiber-optic Scintillator 

and a Lens-Coupled CCD 

Camera,” T.A. White, T.J. 

Roney and S.G. Galbraith, 

Review of Progress in 

Nondestructive Evaluation 

16B, D.O. Thomson and 

D.E. Chimenti, eds., p. 2159, 

1997.

Tomographic slice through 

a surrogate fuel particle with 

four outer layers and a dense 

central core.

Profile across the image to the left at the location indicated by the 

white line.

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For more information

INL is a U.S. Department of Energy 

national laboratory operated by 

Battelle Energy Alliance

Richard N. Wright, Ph.D.

(208) 526-6127

Richard.Wright@inl.gov

Douglas C. Crawford, Ph.D.

(208) 533-7456

Douglas.Crawford@inl.gov

www.inl.gov/envenergyscience/materials