Materials deformation and aging in nuclear power systems

全世界都认识到，核能必须成为未来发电的主要组成部分，以减少温室气体排放，应对气候变化和极端天气事件。 加拿大需要大量新的发电能力，以满足运输和供暖的电气化以及工业的过程热需求。 最大限度地延长加拿大现有反应堆的寿命，在不产生二氧化碳的情况下发电，具有经济和环境意义。 国际上正在进行小型模块化反应堆（SMR）的开发竞赛。通过在较小的设计中使用先进的反应堆概念，SMR需要减少的资本投资，具有增强的安全特征，并且是可扩展的;因此同样适用于加拿大北方的偏远社区，或采矿作业，并用于并网应用。限制现有核电厂寿命延长的关键技术差距，以及SMR的快速部署，准确预测高辐射核环境中材料性能的能力。 该提案涉及核电结构材料领域内下一代SMR和现有加拿大氘铀反应堆的研究需求。 与工业伙伴合作确定了四个研究目标：1）确定现有核材料在当代CANDU反应堆和SMR中预期的更恶劣环境中的行为; 2）探索拟议用于SMR的新材料和涂层的适用性; 3）以开发预测模型为目标，发展对反应堆环境内材料行为的定量理解; 4）对核反应堆环境特有的机制和过程有物理上的理解。除了实现这些研究目标外，该提案还将在对HQP专家有强烈工业需求的领域培养研究生。

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.