Scientific data fuels nuclear safety

The £1 million project will be conducted over the next three and a half years using a Microscope and Ion Accelerator for Materials Investigations (MIAMI) facility.

MIAMI uses ion beams as a safe method for simulating the effects of radiation damage on the materials used in the construction of nuclear reactors.

“The project is about producing a base line of experimental evidence

Research fellow Jonathan Hinks

Stephen Donnelly, co-developer of MIAMI and Dean of the School of Computing and Engineering at the University of Huddersfield, will lead a research team that will also investigate the safe and reliable disposal of radioactive waste.

Donnelly’s team will primarily study how neutrons can weaken and alter the physical dimensions of various materials and how a build-up of helium can result in these materials becoming brittle and susceptible to fracture.

“The project is about producing a base line of experimental evidence,” said Jonathan Hinks, co-developer of the MIAMI facility and senior research fellow.

Using electrons in the same way that a conventional microscope uses light, MIAMI enables researchers to see inside the nanoscale samples of material and witness changes caused by irradiation, including the build-up of gas bubbles, Hinks said.

“The data on a range of nuclear materials (both structural and waste storage) will cover a range of temperatures, damage levels and helium content. By going to the relevant point in the matrix, [we] will be able to understand the microstructure which will have evolved under those conditions in a particular material,” Hinks said.

The amount of ion energy and temperatures can be varied during the experiments and the result will be a database of information about the effects of irradiation at the nanoscale that can then be scaled up by scientists and engineers selecting materials for reactors and for waste disposal, the researchers said.

“Furthermore, it will be possible to extrapolate from the trends identified in the dataset in order to predict how materials will perform under extreme conditions beyond those directly studied in the experiments,” Hinks said.

Once the study has been completed, the findings will be relevant to the Generation III+ reactors soon to be constructed in the UK, the researchers said.

In October last year, the UK government and French utility EDF Energy reached an agreement that will enable the construction of the £14 billion Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.

Hinkley Point C will comprise two Areva 1,630MW European Pressurised Reactors, two turbine halls, cooling water infrastructure, and waste and fuel facilities including storage.

“The materials for these [reactors] have already been selected,” said Hinks.

“But regulatory authorities need constant updates on safety issues and the MIAMI data will enable engineers to predict how reactors will perform over time.”