US and UK researchers have fabricated test capsules made up of advanced metal alloys and graphite for use in future advanced reactors. The UK research team assembled eight capsules at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) Culham Campus in Abingdon after the experimental design was finalised at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The capsules comprise 578 samples of structural materials including advanced steel and various forms of graphite. They will undergo irradiation testing later this year at INL.
The project supports a larger effort between the two countries to share nuclear energy user facility resources to advance civilian nuclear energy technologies. The project is a joint effort between the US Department of Energy’s Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) and the UK National Nuclear User Facility (NNUF), as part of a bilateral cooperative action plan to foster nuclear energy research and resource sharing.
Researchers hope to understand how each sample responds to neutron irradiation and high temperatures to evaluate their potential use in advanced reactors, including high-temperature gas cooled reactors.
“NSUF facilitated US and UK working groups to select materials important for nuclear energy in both countries,” said NSUF Director Brenden Heidrich. “The project is an important example of how we can effectively work with and share resources with an international partner to more efficiently answer questions about advanced materials.”
“The US and UK teams have established a genuine, warm working friendship, and to have completed this first part of the joint irradiation campaign so efficiently is a real achievement for all involved,” said NNUF Management Group Chair Chris Grovenor.
In addition to NSUF and NNUF, the project also included contributions from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Purdue University and Westinghouse in the US as well as the National Nuclear Laboratory, University of Manchester, University of Oxford, and University of Sheffield in the UK.
The capsules have been shipped to the US and will be loaded into INL’s Advanced Test Reactor, which is the world’s highest power test reactor, and will be exposed to temperatures up to 750 degrees Celsius to mimic the conditions in an advanced reactor. The capsules will then be disassembled at INL’s Hot Fuel Examination Facility so that the research teams can analyse how the materials performed.
The materials will later be available to the public for further examination through the NSUF’s Material Library – an open archive of over 9,000 irradiated nuclear fuel and materials samples.
