Materials deformation and aging in nuclear power systems

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There is a world-wide recognition that nuclear must be a major component of future power generation to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, to address climate change and extreme weather events. Canada needs significant new electricity generation capacity to address electrification of transportation and heating, as well as the process-heat needs of industry. Maximising the lifetime of existing Canadian reactors makes economic and environmental sense in terms of producing electricity without CO2 production. There is an international development race underway for small modular reactors (SMRs). By using advanced reactor concepts in a smaller design, SMRs require reduced capital investment, have enhanced safety features, and are scalable; thus equally applicable to remote communities in northern Canada, or mining operations, and for on-grid applications.The key technology gap limiting life extension of existing nuclear plants, as well as rapid deployment of SMRs, is the ability to accurately predict materials performance in the high radiation nuclear environment. This proposal addresses the research needs of next generation SMRs and existing Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactors, within the area of structural materials for nuclear power. There are four research goals identified in collaboration with industrial partners: 1) to determine the behavior of existing nuclear materials in both present generation CANDU reactors and the more severe environments that are expected in SMRs; 2) explore the suitability of new materials and coatings proposed for implementation in SMRs; 3) develop a quantitative understanding of the behavior of materials within a reactor environment with the goal of developing predictive models; 4) develop a physical understanding of the mechanisms and processes that are specific to the nuclear reactor environment. As well as delivering on these research goals, the proposal will serve to train graduate students in an area where there is a strong industrial demand for expert HQP.