Outside Users: Conducting Research at LANL

Outside users: conducting research at LANL facilities

The User Facility Agreement permits outside users—including scientists and engineers from industry, universities, and other governmental agencies—to conduct research using the Lab's unique experimental research equipment and facilities. (See Resources section, below.)

LANL has four main facilities available for use, three of them at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). Users access the equipment to fabricate, calibrate, test, and evaluate products and processes.

• Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE):
  • Lujan Neutron Scattering Center
  • Proton Radiography Center (pRad)
  • Weapons Neutron Research Center (WNR)
• Center of Integrated Nanotechnology (CINT)

The partner (outside user) directs the activity described within the agreement for use of the designated facility and pays the full cost for using the facility.

Terms and Conditions

• Intellectual Property (IP) Rights: User maintains rights
• Commitment of Laboratory Resource: None
• Commitment of Industry Resources: Partner covers all costs associated with using the facility for the tasks defined in the scope of work

Resources

• User Facility Agreement 2006 (pdf)
• Participant (Company) Questionnaire (pdf)
• User Facility Directory

What is a 'DOE Designated User Facility'?

LANS operates these facilities under two class waivers from the U.S. Department of Energy:

• Non-Proprietary User Facilities Waiver W(C)-2008-003
• Proprietary User Facilities Waiver W(C)-2008-005

Use of a facility by a Non-Proprietary User is paid for by a DOE program. Non-Proprietary Users must agree to publish their results and the Government’s rights to the technical results are unlimited.

Use of a facility by a Proprietary User requires the user to pay full-cost recovery. Proprietary Users keep their results private and the Government's rights are more limited.

DOE has provided a “pre-approved” user agreement for each class waiver. As long as the user agrees to the standard template, DOE approval is not required. Each user agreement has specially designated clauses that can only be changed with DOE approval. Such changes can cause a significant delay in the time required to obtain approval, or in some cases, may result in the work being disapproved.
 
Under the various facilities’ management plans, TT manages all Proprietary User Agreements and those Non-Proprietary User Agreements for which a user has requested a change to a specially design.