IDREAM EFRC

Institute

IDREAM EFRC

The Ion Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials (IDREAM) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) is a PNNL-led partnership with Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Utah, and the University of Washington.

This interdisciplinary team is exploring complex chemical phenomena to enable innovations in retrieving and processing highly radioactive waste and resolving knowledge gaps that have perplexed industrial aluminum process chemists for more than a century.

This scientific illustration represents the research being done in the IDREAM Energy Frontier Research Center. IDREAM stands for Ion Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials. The image includes logos of the partner institutions.

The IDREAM EFRC aims to reveal how attosecond responses to radiolysis ripple across complex ion networks. The multi-institutional team’s research objectives are synchronized across three spatiotemporal regimes, interweaving theory and experiment to span the extraordinary range of scales required for the treatment of Hanford Site radioactive tank waste.

(Illustration by Nathan Johnson | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

A Foundation for New Discoveries

The scientific mission of the Ion Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials (IDREAM) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) is to master the cascade of radiation chemistry that drives far from equilibrium speciation and reactivity in chemically complex environments, linking attosecond timescales to decadal processes.

By achieving its scientific mission, IDREAM will provide the technical basis to predict and control speciation and reactivity—this can be leveraged by the Department of Energy (DOE) to support operational decisions for improved efficiency in retrieval, transport, and treatment of millions of gallons of legacy highly radioactive waste. IDREAM is uniquely positioned to achieve this mission with its effective team, novel experimental and computational capabilities, and track record of major accomplishments.

A graphic showing three circles with chemical structures leading to a drawing of a radioactive waste storage tank with some of the problems being solved with science. — IDREAM aims to provide the fundamental science basis to speed up the processing of millions of gallons of highly radioactive wastes stored at DOE’s Hanford and Savannah River Sites. With currently available technologies, removing these wastes from tanks and stabilizing them for disposal will take decades and will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Building on IDREAM’s research progress, our research goals advance a foundation of use-inspired knowledge, enabling accelerated waste-processing alternatives. (Illustration by Nathan Johnson | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Teaming Expertise in Experimental and Theoretical Approaches

IDREAM consists of an interdisciplinary team of experts united around common research goals, each with unique approaches and tools with transcendent impacts. Our core science thrusts center on discovering the general principles describing interfacial chemistry under extreme conditions that include highly alkaline electrolytes exposed to ionizing radiation.

The four-year renewal that was announced by the DOE Office of Science on September 4, 2024, marked an evolution of the research to three SpatioTemporal Regime (STaR) focus areas:

SpatioTemporal Regime 1 (STaR1): Ultrafast Processes (Experimental Lead: Linda Young, Theory Lead: Xiaosong Li)
SpatioTemporal Regime 2 (STaR2): Metastable Ensembles (Experimental Lead: Gregory Kimmel, Theory Lead: Aurora Clark)
SpatioTemporal Regime 3 (STaR3): Emergent Phenomena (Experimental Lead: Kevin Rosso, Theory Lead: Gregory Schenter)

Led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the IDREAM partner intuitions are Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Utah, and the University of Washington.

IDREAM is one of 43 EFRCs stewarded by the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

IDREAM: A track record of discovery

Since August 2016, IDREAM has created a transformative new understanding of key aspects of aluminum chemistry in highly alkaline electrolytes and the influence of ionizing radiation. Our work has resulted in key breakthroughs and is directly challenging long-held beliefs and surmounting barriers through our integrated computational and multi-modal experimental approaches.

The original mission of IDREAM was to master fundamental interfacial chemistry in complex environments characterized by extremes in alkalinity and low-water activity. Our primary focus was on chemical phenomena driven far from equilibrium by ionizing radiation, seeking information to fill a critical knowledge gap around complex chemistry and radiolysis of highly alkaline systems, which can aid in accelerating processing of legacy radioactive waste.

Effective with the four-year renewal that launched August 1, 2020—led by PNNL—the IDREAM institutional partners included Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Washington. In August 2022, the six-year partnership with the Washington State University ended and the University of Utah joined IDREAM.

While BES is the sponsor and EFRC steward, IDREAM's science provides a technical foundation for innovation within the DOE Office of Environmental Management's cleanup missions at the Hanford Site in Washington state and at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.