issues inherent to the current life cycle of nuclear reactor fuel in the United States. These efforts strive to make nuclear energy's expansion safe, secure, economic and sustainable. Currently, the United States, like many other countries, employs an "open-ended" nuclear fuel cycle, whereby nuclear power plant fuel is used only once and then placed in a repository for indefinite storage. One of the primary FCRD goals is to research, develop and demonstrate ways to "close" the fuel cycle so fuel is reused or recycled rather than being shelved before all of its energy has been used. INL coordinates many of the FCRD's national research efforts, including: Continuing critical fuel cycle research and development (R&D) activities Pursuing the development of policy and regulatory framework to support fuel cycle closure Developing deployable technologies Establishing advanced modeling and simulation program elements Implementing a science-based R&D program Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program supports national efforts to do the research and gather the information necessary to demonstrate whether it is safe and prudent to apply for extensions beyond 60 years of operating life. The Program aims to safely and economically extend the service lives of the more than 100 electricity-generating nuclear power plants in the United States. The program brings together technical information, performs important research and organizes data to be used in license-extension applications. Advanced Test Reactor National Scientific User Facility (ATR NSUF) INL's Advanced Test Reactor is a research reactor located approximately from Idaho Falls, Idaho. The Department of Energy named Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) a National Scientific User Facility in April 2007. This designation opened the facility to use by university-led scientific research groups and gives them free access to the ATR and other resources at INL and partner facilities. In addition to a rolling proposal solicitation with two closing dates each year, INL holds an annual "Users Week" and summer session to familiarize researchers with the user facility capabilities available to them. Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) DOE's Nuclear Energy University Programs provide funding for university research grants, fellowships, scholarships and infrastructure upgrades. For example, in May 2010, the program awarded $38 million for 42 university-led R&D projects at 23 United States universities in 17 states. In FY 2009, the program awarded about $44 million to 71 R&D projects and more than $6 million in infrastructure grants to 30 U.S. universities and colleges in