Facilities

The Heavy Element Research Laboratory (HERL) consists of interconnecting rooms dedicated to work with transuranic elements (TRUs) and other radionuclides. The facility includes radiochemical glove boxes, fume hoods, and custom-designed inert atmosphere gloveboxes. Major analytical capabilities include X-ray powder diffraction, EPR, NMR, SQUID magnetometry, benchtop XAS, optical and luminescence spectroscopies, spectro-electrochemistry, and CRAIC microspectrometry with UV/Vis/NIR, fluorescence, and Raman capabilities. The nuclear counting room shares internal access with the main laboratories and is equipped with several high-purity Ge γ-spectrometers, an α-spectrometer, and liquid scintillation counting equipment.

The Molecular Foundry is used for high-resolution characterization of radioactive and transuranic materials. Foundry facilities for actinide research include the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM), which operates nine dedicated transmission electron microscopes (TEM) and dual-beam FIB/SEM instruments with cryo-capabilities for high-resolution imaging, EDS, and EELS of actinide-bearing samples. Additional specialized capabilities include low-temperature atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopy (AFM/STM), luminescence and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL), LC-MS/MS, and tunable ultrafast laser spectroscopy. Validated radiological protocols enable the safe handling of transuranic isotopes and biological tissues for structural analysis and electronic structure probing at the nanoscale.

The 88-Inch Cyclotron supports ongoing research programs in nuclear structure, astrophysics, heavy element studies, and technology R&D by Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley. Major instrumentation and facilities at the 88-Inch Cyclotron include the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator (BGS), the Berkeley Accelerator Space Effects (BASE) Facility, and the superconducting VENUS ion source, one of the most powerful Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion sources in the world.

The Advanced Light Source (ALS) is used to conduct synchrotron radiation investigations with radioactive materials. ALS facilities for actinide research include beamlines for scanning transmission x-ray microscopy, full-field x-ray microscopy, soft x-ray spectroscopy and photoemission, infrared spectromicroscopy, x-ray fluorescence microspectroscopy, small molecule and protein crystallography.  We also have several end station modules and UHV chambers optimized for environmental research, and are developing new chambers especially for “wet spectroscopy” applications.

The Biological Radionuclide Laboratories are specialized facilities designed for the simultaneous handling of chemical, biological, and radiological materials. These laboratories include dedicated BSL-2 suites for in vitro microbial and mammalian studies and an animal housing facility specifically built for radionuclide decorporation experiments and radiopharmaceutical testing. Analytical and imaging capabilities include a MicroPET scanner, digital autoradiography, flow cytometry, RT-PCR, LC-MS systems, ICP-OES, and specialized equipment for processing radiological and biological samples. These facilities are fully accredited and supported by Berkeley Lab's Animal Facility and Radiation Protection Group to ensure safe conduct of radionuclide studies in biological systems.