{"schema_version":1,"research_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp05_external_evaluation_20260803","source_assessment_id":"layer_decay_and_expiration_management__physics:P4:v0","cell_id":"layer_decay_and_expiration_management__physics","search_queries":["irradiated materials specimen archive management aliquot lineage archive nuclear materials research specimens","IAEA radioactive material samples retention characterization records disposal laboratory specimens","irradiated specimen archive database nuclear materials user facility library","ASTM irradiated specimens archive retention surveillance capsule specimens","site:inl.gov Nuclear Fuels Materials Library specimen database sample unique access demand publication","site:osti.gov \"Nuclear Fuels and Materials Library\" specimens archive","site:nrc.gov irradiated specimens record retention disposal radioactive material research reactor samples","site:iaea.org research reactor irradiated samples storage records handling safety guide","site:nsuf.inl.gov Rapid Turnaround Experiment cost limit $100,000 sample library 2025","site:energy.gov irradiated material sample archive management cost hot cell specimen","site:inl.gov NFML policy sample allocation destructive analysis reserve remaining sample","irradiated specimens materials archive database lifecycle sample allocation destructive testing research","ASTM E185-21 official standard archive material retained full documentation identification","ASTM E1253 reconstitution irradiated Charpy specimens official","IAEA SSG-85 irradiated samples research reactor storage radioactive waste records samples handling 2023 pdf","site:iaea.org SSG-85 radioactive waste management research reactor irradiated samples records"],"sources":[{"source_id":"S1","title":"Information Notice No. 90-52: Retention of Broken Charpy Specimens","publisher":"U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission","url":"https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/gen-comm/info-notices/1990/in90052","source_class":"GOVERNMENT_OR_REGULATOR","publication_date":"1990-08-14","accessed_at":"2026-08-03","claims_supported":["Some licensees discarded irradiated surveillance specimens to avoid long-term storage cost and burden.","Discarded specimens can be unique and later useful for embrittlement, license-renewal, annealing-recovery, or pressurized-thermal-shock analysis.","Previously tested irradiated specimens can sometimes be reconstituted for additional testing, demonstrating that apparent assay exhaustion need not eliminate future scientific value."]},{"source_id":"S2","title":"Nuclear Fuels & Materials Library","publisher":"Nuclear Science User Facilities, Idaho National Laboratory","url":"https://nsuf.inl.gov/fuels_materials_library","source_class":"OFFICIAL_ORGANIZATION_DATA","publication_date":"n.d.","accessed_at":"2026-08-03","claims_supported":["NSUF operates an active library of specimens and information from irradiation campaigns, decommissioned-reactor components, and donations.","Library materials are made available through peer-reviewed proposals or direct programmatic requests.","The collection contains thousands of samples, and admission emphasizes research relevance, distinctiveness or demand, and supporting pedigree information."]},{"source_id":"S3","title":"NSUF Fuels and Materials Library 2015 White Paper (INL/EXT-15-36345)","publisher":"Idaho National Laboratory / U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy","url":"https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/6799576.pdf","source_class":"OFFICIAL_ORGANIZATION_DATA","publication_date":"2015-09","accessed_at":"2026-08-03","claims_supported":["INL described more than 3,500 NSUF-irradiated specimens and called management of the highly radioactive inventory a unique logistical challenge.","The report explicitly sought to limit material stored indefinitely without identified value while preserving specimen pedigree and research value.","NSUF identified a need for cataloguing, storage, tracking, access management, and continual updating of a growing inventory.","Specimens were distributed among multiple facilities; individual samples or groups received unique identifiers after capsule disassembly.","Contamination, decontamination, transport, and hot-cell constraints increased retrieval cost and reduced throughput.","NSUF acts as custodian for DOE-owned library material, providing an identifiable adopter and authorizer."]},{"source_id":"S4","title":"Request for Samples: Nuclear Fuels and Materials Library","publisher":"Nuclear Science User Facilities, Idaho National Laboratory","url":"https://nsuf.inl.gov/nfml_request","source_class":"OFFICIAL_ORGANIZATION_DATA","publication_date":"n.d.","accessed_at":"2026-08-03","claims_supported":["NSUF continues to solicit additions to its irradiated and unirradiated specimen library.","Awarded investigators ordinarily receive a three-year exclusive post-irradiation-examination period, after which samples become available to the wider research community.","The published transition from investigator exclusivity to shared access is an existing lifecycle rule and demonstrates operational authority over specimen availability."]},{"source_id":"S5","title":"Irradiated Samples, Byproduct Material Transfers and Service Reports","publisher":"University of Missouri System","url":"https://www.umsystem.edu/ums/fa/management/records/retention-authorization/irradiated-samples-byproduct-material-transfers","source_class":"OFFICIAL_ORGANIZATION_DATA","publication_date":"2025-07-01","accessed_at":"2026-08-03","claims_supported":["A research-reactor operator maintains irradiation, processing, transfer, shipment, packaging, radiation-protection, and service records for irradiated samples.","Its record series uses transfer or disposal as a cutoff and applies a ten-year retention period, showing an implemented lifecycle tied to physical disposition.","Processing history may be stored separately from irradiation-identification folders, illustrating a real metadata-reconnection challenge."]},{"source_id":"S6","title":"Radiation Protection and Radioactive Waste Management in the Design and Operation of Research Reactors, IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-85","publisher":"International Atomic Energy Agency","url":"https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/PUB2049_web.pdf","source_class":"STANDARD","publication_date":"2023-08","accessed_at":"2026-08-03","claims_supported":["Irradiated research samples are radiation sources and may require designated facilities for storage, analysis, and examination.","Radioactive-waste programs should maintain accurate inventories, characterize and segregate material, provide adequate storage capacity, and ensure inspection and retrieval after storage.","Written procedures should cover decay storage, labeling, inventory, periodic inspection, movement, and disposal.","A package-level register should record radionuclides, activity, physical and chemical characteristics, chain of custody, responsibility, movement, storage, discharge, disposal, and identification.","Radiological handling status must be established under approved safety procedures rather than inferred solely from elapsed time."]},{"source_id":"S7","title":"10 CFR Part 20—Standards for Protection Against Radiation","publisher":"Electronic Code of Federal Regulations / U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission","url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-10/chapter-I/part-20","source_class":"GOVERNMENT_OR_REGULATOR","publication_date":"2026-07-30","accessed_at":"2026-08-03","claims_supported":["Licensees must secure stored licensed material against unauthorized access or removal and control material that is not in storage.","Containers require information sufficient for handlers to minimize exposure, including radionuclides, estimated activity, date, radiation level, material type, and relevant mass enrichment.","Licensed material may be disposed of only through authorized routes, including authorized transfer or decay in storage.","Licensees must maintain disposal records until termination of the pertinent license."]},{"source_id":"S8","title":"ASTM E1253-21: Standard Guide for Reconstitution of Charpy-Sized Specimens","publisher":"ASTM International","url":"https://store.astm.org/standards/e1253","source_class":"STANDARD","publication_date":"2021-10-12","accessed_at":"2026-08-03","claims_supported":["The standard addresses reuse of broken irradiated surveillance specimens when full-size material with the required history is unavailable or insufficient.","Finite irradiated material can retain value after an initial destructive test because specimen halves can sometimes be reconstituted for additional testing.","The standard leaves safety, health, environmental, and regulatory applicability to the responsible user, supporting the proposal's separation of scientific ranking from handling authority."]}],"problem_evidence":{"support":"STRONG","rationale":"The problem is directly visible in both regulatory and operating-organization evidence. NRC documented disposal motivated by storage burden despite later scientific value, while INL described a growing, highly radioactive specimen inventory whose logistics pose unique challenges and explicitly sought to avoid indefinite storage without identified value. Public evidence does not quantify the current prevalence of stale identities, missed dependencies, or erroneous dispositions across specimen banks.","source_ids":["S1","S3"]},"stakeholder_evidence":{"support":"STRONG","rationale":"NSUF/INL is an identifiable operator, custodian, and access authorizer for a large active irradiated-material library. Its reports explicitly call for cataloguing, tracking, access management, pedigree standards, and control of indefinite retention. The University of Missouri research reactor supplies an independent example of an institution with authority over irradiated-sample records through transfer or disposal. No public source expressly requests the proposal's full scoring, dependency-veto, quarantine, and tombstone bundle.","source_ids":["S2","S3","S4","S5"]},"prior_art":{"proximity":"ADJACENT_PRIOR_ART","closest_analogues":[{"name":"NSUF Nuclear Fuels and Materials Library","similarity":"An operating irradiated-specimen archive already catalogs material, controls access, uses specimen identifiers and pedigree criteria, coordinates retrieval, and transitions samples from investigator exclusivity to wider availability.","remaining_difference":"The public materials reviewed do not describe a unified remaining-mass and aliquot-lineage ledger, scientific-dependency veto before destructive use or disposal, time-bounded preservation holds, disposal quarantine, or mass-balance tombstones.","source_ids":["S2","S3","S4"]},{"name":"NRC surveillance-specimen retention and ASTM specimen reconstitution","similarity":"NRC and ASTM already recognize that used irradiated specimens can be unique, scientifically valuable, and reusable after an initial destructive test.","remaining_difference":"These practices address surveillance specimens and reconstitution, not lifecycle triage across a heterogeneous research bank or comparison of reserve, archive, assay, transfer, and disposal states.","source_ids":["S1","S8"]},{"name":"IAEA radioactive-waste inventory, decay storage, retrieval, custody, and disposal controls","similarity":"IAEA guidance already specifies accurate inventories, characterization, classification, decay storage, inspection, retrieval, chain of custody, periodic review, authorized movement, and disposal records for radioactive material.","remaining_difference":"Waste-management controls do not by themselves encode scientific uniqueness, remaining assay mass, parent-child aliquot dependencies, comparison-series obligations, or preservation of the last scientifically relevant aliquot.","source_ids":["S6","S7"]},{"name":"MURR irradiated-sample record lifecycle","similarity":"A research-reactor operator already links irradiation, processing, shipment, transfer, and disposal records to a defined retention schedule.","remaining_difference":"The published schedule governs records after transfer or disposal; it does not demonstrate the proposed specimen-level scientific disposition logic or physical reserve policy.","source_ids":["S5"]}],"distinctive_claim_remaining":"For a bounded irradiated-specimen bank, adding a specimen-and-aliquot mass-balance ledger, explicit scientific-dependency and final-aliquot vetoes, owned and expiring reserve holds, differentiated archive/quarantine states, and disposition tombstones will identify decision-relevant cases missed by keep-all and campaign-level closeout while producing no unsafe handling recommendation. This can be falsified if blinded reviewers find no additional valid dependencies or lifecycle distinctions, if lineage and mass cannot be reconciled, if the method flags known-required material for disposal, or if disagreement and retrieval performance do not improve over the comparators.","confidence":"MODERATE"},"implementation_evidence":{"support":"MODERATE","rationale":"Identity databases, unique specimen identifiers, controlled access, custody records, decay storage, inspection, retrieval, authorized disposal routes, and enduring disposal records are established and technically compatible. A read-only shadow inventory and surrogate retrieval drill are therefore implementable without altering custody. Feasibility remains unproven for reconciling historical mass losses, external publication dependencies, current radiological measurements, and parent-child aliquot relationships. Site license conditions and radiological-protection authorization control every physical action; elapsed time or a score cannot establish handling safety.","source_ids":["S3","S5","S6","S7","S8"]},"scores":{"meaningful_impact":{"score":4,"rationale":"Avoiding both indefinite high-control retention and irreversible loss of unique irradiated material could materially improve safety, scientific option value, and archive operability, although realized impact is unmeasured.","source_ids":["S1","S3"]},"stakeholder_pull":{"score":4,"rationale":"NSUF operates the relevant archive and has explicitly identified inventory, pedigree, tracking, access, retrieval-cost, and indefinite-retention challenges. Pull for the exact integrated intervention has not been published.","source_ids":["S2","S3","S4"]},"incremental_advantage":{"score":3,"rationale":"Remaining-mass lineage and scientific-dependency vetoes plausibly improve on keep-all and campaign-level closeout, but no comparative results establish fewer missed dependencies, better retrieval, or lower burden.","source_ids":["S1","S3","S6"]},"distinctiveness_plausibility":{"score":3,"rationale":"The components are largely established across specimen libraries, surveillance practice, and radioactive-waste governance. The contrast is their integration around depletable scientific material and final-aliquot dependencies; no close public implementation was found, but world novelty is unmeasured.","source_ids":["S2","S3","S5","S6","S8"]},"technical_implementability":{"score":3,"rationale":"A shadow ledger, rules engine, blinded review, and surrogate retrieval exercise use familiar data and workflow methods. Historical lineage gaps, uncertain mass balances, fragmented records, and controlled-facility retrieval constrain reliability.","source_ids":["S3","S5","S6"]},"adoption_authority_feasibility":{"score":3,"rationale":"Custodians, principal investigators, radiological-protection personnel, and licensed waste processes provide plausible authority paths, but no single actor can authorize all scientific, custody, handling, transfer, and disposal decisions.","source_ids":["S3","S6","S7"]},"evidence_readiness":{"score":3,"rationale":"A closed campaign should have accession, irradiation, processing, assay, and custody records, but these are proprietary operational records and may be fragmented or incomplete. Public evidence supplies no campaign-level error rates or comparator outcomes.","source_ids":["S3","S5"]},"safety_net_benefit":{"score":4,"rationale":"A read-only pilot, dependency veto, protected reserve, and reversible quarantine directly reduce the chance of consuming or disposing of irreplaceable material. They do not replace licensed radiological controls.","source_ids":["S1","S6","S7","S8"]},"scalability":{"score":3,"rationale":"The model could extend across specimen banks because inventory and custody concepts are general, but heterogeneous identifiers, licenses, hot-cell capabilities, contamination states, and local ownership policies make deployment site-specific.","source_ids":["S2","S3","S6"]}},"score_confidence":"MODERATE","costs":{"first_evidence":{"band_2026_usd":"50K_TO_250K","scope":"Read-only shadow study for one closed campaign: reconcile approximately 100–300 specimens and aliquots, conduct independent adjudication, build comparator outputs, and perform surrogate plus already-authorized visual or record-level retrieval checks.","confidence":"LOW","assumptions":["No controlled specimen is opened, moved, assayed, relabeled, or disposed.","Existing staff can export records without new facility qualification.","Three to five scientific, custody, data, and radiological specialists contribute part-time for roughly 8–12 weeks.","The estimate is a resource-equivalent range, not a sourced vendor quote."],"source_ids":["S3","S5","S6"]},"initial_deployment_startup":{"band_2026_usd":"250K_TO_1M","scope":"One-site production design: data-model integration, identity and mass reconciliation, lifecycle policy drafting, role and authorization mapping, audit logging, validation, and staff training.","confidence":"LOW","assumptions":["Existing inventory and document systems remain systems of record.","No hot-cell construction, transport-cask procurement, or new radiological license is included.","Legacy-data cleanup is limited to one specimen bank.","The estimate excludes destructive examination and waste-disposal charges."],"source_ids":["S3","S6","S7"]},"operational_launch":{"band_2026_usd":"1M_TO_5M","scope":"Bank-wide rollout across thousands of holdings: legacy reconciliation, workflow integration, controlled retrieval drills, policy adjudication, cybersecurity and records validation, and staged transition to routine use.","confidence":"LOW","assumptions":["A bank is comparable in scale to the thousands of holdings documented by NSUF.","Existing controlled storage and handling facilities are reused.","Some retrievals require radiological planning and decontamination but no major capital facility is constructed.","Multi-facility coordination and quality assurance are included."],"source_ids":["S2","S3","S6"]},"annual_recurring":{"band_2026_usd":"250K_TO_1M","scope":"Ongoing data stewardship, periodic lifecycle reviews, hold revalidation, dependency checks, sampled retrieval exercises, audit support, training, and maintenance of disposal and mass-balance records.","confidence":"LOW","assumptions":["One to four full-time-equivalent staff are distributed across custody, science, data, and radiological-protection functions.","Physical examinations occur only under existing authorizations.","Waste transport and disposal fees for unusual campaigns are excluded.","Actual recurrence depends strongly on archive size, access demand, and contamination state."],"source_ids":["S3","S6","S7"]}},"verified_pipeline_gates":{"externally_supported_problem":{"status":"YES","reason":"NRC documented storage-driven disposal of scientifically useful irradiated specimens, and INL documented a growing radioactive archive with unique logistical and indefinite-retention challenges.","source_ids":["S1","S3"]},"externally_credible_adopter_or_authorizer":{"status":"YES","reason":"NSUF/INL actively operates and controls access to a large irradiated-material library, acts as DOE's custodian, and has expressed the need for inventory, pedigree, tracking, and access processes.","source_ids":["S2","S3","S4"]},"distinct_testable_incremental_claim":{"status":"YES","reason":"The remaining-mass, aliquot-lineage, dependency-veto, expiring-reserve, quarantine, and tombstone bundle can be compared against keep-all and campaign-level closeout using missed dependencies, disposition disagreements, unsafe recommendations, and lineage gaps.","source_ids":["S1","S3","S6","S8"]},"bounded_next_evidence_step":{"status":"YES","reason":"One closed campaign can be evaluated through a read-only shadow ledger, blinded independent adjudication, surrogate retrieval, and predeclared falsifiers without changing official records or physical custody.","source_ids":["S3","S5","S6"]},"no_unresolved_safety_or_authority_stop":{"status":"YES","reason":"The proposed first step excludes physical manipulation and official-record changes; any controlled verification remains subject to existing custodian and radiological-protection authority. The gate applies only to this bounded shadow study, not operational deployment.","source_ids":["S3","S6","S7"]},"credible_cost_scope_and_range":{"status":"UNCERTAIN","reason":"The four ranges are scoped resource-equivalent estimates anchored to documented archive scale, distributed facilities, contamination, and retrieval burden, but no public source provides unit labor, decontamination, software-integration, or campaign-specific reconciliation costs.","source_ids":["S2","S3","S6"]}},"next_evidence_step":"Partner with one licensed irradiated-material bank and pre-register a read-only study of one closed campaign containing 100–300 intact parents, partially consumed specimens, derived aliquots, reserve candidates, and proposed closeout material. Team A builds the proposed identity, remaining-mass, lineage, dependency, hold, and shadow-lifecycle ledger. A blinded panel of scientific, custody, waste, and radiological reviewers assigns disposition states using existing practice without the score. Compare both with (1) keep-all and (2) campaign-level closeout. Primary measures are unreconciled identities, mass-balance conflicts, known dependency recall, additional valid dependencies found, final-aliquot conflicts, interreviewer disposition agreement, false disposal flags, and time per reviewed specimen. Exercise retrieval with surrogate packages and, only where already authorized, record-level or visual container verification. Falsify the intervention if lineage or mass cannot be reconciled for a decision-usable majority, any known-required specimen is classified for disposal without a veto, dependency recall is no better than campaign closeout, reviewer agreement deteriorates materially, or the workflow produces no decision-relevant distinction beyond existing controls. Make no physical, handling-class, custody, or official-record change.","blocking_evidence":["No public campaign-level evidence quantifies unidentified, unowned, inaccurately labeled, or unnecessarily retained specimens.","No public comparison measures whether specimen-level lifecycle review finds dependencies missed by campaign-level closeout.","Historical remaining-mass and parent-child aliquot data completeness is unknown and requires proprietary records.","The stability and validity of the proposed scientific-value score require blinded reviewer data rather than further web research.","Retrieval performance, container-to-metadata reconnection, and radiological workflow burden require a partnered field exercise.","Site-specific license conditions, role authorities, labor effort, decontamination needs, and recurring costs are not publicly resolved."],"research_disposition":"PARTNERED_RESEARCH_PROGRAM","world_novelty_boundary":"This evaluation found adjacent disclosed practices but did not measure world novelty, patentability, freedom to operate, market size, or realized impact. Absence of a close public source is not evidence that the integrated lifecycle has never been implemented in non-public laboratory procedures or proprietary systems.","arm":"COMPLETE_PROPOSAL_PORTFOLIO","candidate_version":0,"controller_recommendation":{"action":"STOP_EMPIRICAL_RESEARCH_NEEDED","repairable":false,"material_progress_observed":true,"progress_targets":["Obtain authorized access to one closed campaign's accession, irradiation, assay, custody, publication, and disposition records.","Pre-register specimen inclusion criteria, comparators, outcome definitions, and falsification thresholds.","Demonstrate decision-usable reconciliation of identities, parent-child lineage, and remaining mass.","Measure dependency recall, false disposal flags, disposition agreement, review time, and incremental distinctions versus keep-all and campaign-level closeout.","Complete surrogate and already-authorized record-level or visual retrieval tests without changing custody or handling state.","Document the actual staff hours, radiological planning effort, data-integration work, and retrieval costs needed to replace the low-confidence cost estimates.","Confirm site-specific custodial, scientific, radiological-protection, records, transfer, and waste-disposition authorities before any operational pilot."],"reason":"Bounded web research established the problem, a credible adopter, adjacent prior art, a testable incremental claim, and a safe shadow-study design. The decisive remaining evidence depends on proprietary campaign records, blinded expert adjudication, and controlled retrieval testing; under the evaluation rule, that requires an empirical-research stop rather than further targeted web research."},"proposal_index":4}