Projects
Projects: Projects for Investigator |
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| Reference Number | EP/E036384/1 | |
| Title | Zirconium alloys for high burn-up fuel in current and advanced light water-cooled reactors | |
| Status | Completed | |
| Energy Categories | Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Light-water reactors (LWRs)) 100%; | |
| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials) 100% | |
| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Not Cross-cutting 100% | |
| Principal Investigator |
Professor C Grovenor No email address given Materials University of Oxford |
|
| Award Type | Standard | |
| Funding Source | EPSRC | |
| Start Date | 01 April 2007 | |
| End Date | 31 March 2012 | |
| Duration | 60 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £619,472 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Energy | |
| Region | South East | |
| Programme | Energy Research Capacity, Materials, Mechanical and Medical Eng | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Professor C Grovenor , Materials, University of Oxford (99.997%) |
| Other Investigator | Professor A Cerezo , Materials, University of Oxford (0.001%) Professor G Smith , Materials, University of Oxford (0.001%) Dr J Sykes , Materials, University of Oxford (0.001%) |
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| Industrial Collaborator | Project Contact , EDF Energy (0.000%) Project Contact , Nexia Solutions (0.000%) Project Contact , Serco Group plc (0.000%) Project Contact , British Energy Generation Ltd (0.000%) Project Contact , Rolls Royce Naval Marine (0.000%) Project Contact , Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB (0.000%) |
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| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | ||
| Abstract | In order to improve the efficiency of modern nuclear reactors, reduce operating costs and minimise nuclear waste the fuel manufacturers together with plant operators and nuclear waste agencies are trying to develop fuel assemblies, which can operate for substantially longer times than what is currently achieved. Since Uranium-enrichment technology has progressed significantly in the last two decades it is now the fuel cladding material that limits the level of energy produced from a fuel assembly (termed burn-up by the nuclear industry). Increasing the so-called burn-up of fuel assemblies will improve the fuel economy/fuel usage of civil nuclear reactors, extend refuelling cycles (i.e. reduce the number of shutdowns for refuelling the reactor), and hence reduce the operating costs and nuclear waste. In modern nuclear reactors fuel cladding is based on zirconium alloys due to their good performance in the environment of water-cooled reactors and their transparency to neutrons. Thetime the cladding material can operate in such an environment (and therefore the level of energy that can be produced from a fuel assembly) is proportional to the corrosion properties. Longer lasting cladding material would require zirconium alloys with a more protective oxide layer, which would avoid any accelerated corrosion, breakaway of the oxide layer and protect against hydrogen pick-up. To date, any development in this area has been purely empirical and has not resulted in the required step change, which would allow operating the fuel assemblies to the desired burn-up. The scientific basis of this application is to address these issues by studying the influence and inter-relationships of all relevant microstructural features, local stresses, electronic defects in the oxide, in both commercial and model alloys when corrosion tested in an autoclave environment. This requires the project team to use the latest generation of analytical techniques in a coherent, interdisciplinary program. In addition our industrial partners provide access to additional specialist facilities such as autoclaves or melting facilities to produce model alloys. The key theme is to develop a mechanistic understanding of the corrosion process to enable the development of physically-based models, which will enable the design and full exploitation of alloys optimized to delay breakaway oxidation and oxidation growth. The research will be undertaken by a multi-university team, encouraging PhDstudents and post-doctoral research associates to form a core group of researchers who work together to exploit world-class facilities from different institutions | |
| Publications | (none) |
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| Final Report | (none) |
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| Added to Database | 07/03/07 | |
