Investigating atomic-scale mechanisms of thermal ageing in steels harvested from decommissioned pressurisers from Ringhals Units 2 and 4 Reactors

研究从 Ringhals 2 号和 4 号反应堆退役加压器中回收的钢的热老化原子尺度机制

• 批准号: 2887627
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2887627
• 关键词: Investigating; atomic; scale; mechanisms; thermal

Many countries now have ambitious net zero targets. The United Kingdom was the first to commit to net-zero by 2050, requiring a significant increase in power production by both nuclear and renewables. Nuclear plants are designed to last many decades but, under extreme conditions, materials degrade potentially resulting in early plant closures. Optimising materials subject to the extreme reactor conditions, so as to minimise mechanical degradation, and maximise plant lifetime, are critical to underpinning the viability of nuclear energy for future generations. Specifically, this project will investigate the mechanisms of thermal ageing in unique materials harvested from the decommissioned pressurisers of the Swedish Ringhals Units 2 and 4 Reactors. The pressuriser is a component of the primary coolant circuit in a pressurised water reactor (PWR) which regulates pressure and temperature within the primary circuit. Hence, the structural integrity of these steel components is of critical importance for the safe long-term operation of PWRs.Using a combination of advanced microstructural characterisation techniques, in particular Atom Probe Tomography (APT), the main focus of this study will be how the atomic scale microstructure in these steels has evolved during long term thermal ageing, up to 300,000 hours in service. This change in fine-scale microstructure will be directly correlated to the observed degradation in mechanical properties. The new mechanistic insights delivered in this project will be critical to the development of thermodynamic models to understand and predict how microstructure and mechanical properties will evolve over even longer times in service and thus is of significant importance to safely extending the operating lifetimes of PWRs. The insights from this project will also help to inform the development and selection of new materials for the design of more efficient next generation future reactors. This project will be undertaken in close collaboration with our industrial partners National Nuclear Laboratory (UK) and Vattenfall (Sweden) who are one of Europe's largest producers of electricity and the owner/operator of the Ringhals power plant supplying the ex-reactor service components to be investigated in this study. The project directly addresses the EPSRC themes, Energy and Manufacturing the Future. It also directly contributes to a range of topics in the EPSRC priority area Advanced Materials, such as: Materials Engineering: Metals and Alloys and Materials for Energy Applications.

许多国家现在都制定了雄心勃勃的净零目标。联合王国是第一个承诺到2050年实现净零发电的国家，要求核能和可再生能源的发电量大幅增加。核电站的设计寿命为几十年，但在极端条件下，材料会降解，可能会导致核电站提前关闭。优化受极端反应堆条件影响的材料，以最大限度地减少机械退化，最大限度地延长核电站寿命，对于为子孙后代巩固核能的生存能力至关重要。具体地说，该项目将研究从瑞典林哈尔2号和4号反应堆退役增压器中收获的独特材料的热老化机理。增压器是压水堆(PWR)中一次冷却剂回路的一个部件，用于调节一次回路中的压力和温度。因此，这些钢部件的结构完整性对于压水堆的安全长期运行至关重要。结合先进的显微组织表征技术，特别是原子探针断层扫描(APT)，本研究的主要重点将是这些钢在长达300,000小时的长期热时效过程中原子尺度微结构是如何演变的。这种细微结构的变化将与观察到的机械性能退化直接相关。该项目提供的新的力学见解对于开发热力学模型以了解和预测微观结构和机械性能将如何在更长的使用时间内演变至关重要，因此对于安全延长压水堆的运行寿命具有重要意义。来自该项目的见解还将有助于为设计更高效的下一代未来反应堆而开发和选择新材料。该项目将与我们的工业合作伙伴国家核实验室(英国)和瓦滕福尔(瑞典)密切合作，这两家公司是欧洲最大的电力生产商之一，也是Ringhals发电厂的所有者/运营商，提供本研究要调查的反应堆前服务组件。该项目直接涉及EPSRC的主题，能源和制造的未来。它还直接对EPSRC优先领域先进材料的一系列主题做出贡献，例如：材料工程：金属和合金以及能源应用材料。