Thermal-Hydraulics measurement and sensing techniques for Nuclear Applications

新兴的新一代核反应堆，小型和先进的模块化反应堆（SMR/AMR），为推动英国未来很大一部分的无碳能源生产提供了灵活和经济的选择。这些系统将需要新的材料、冷却剂成分和操作机制，在部署这些新系统之前，所有这些都需要得到很好的理解。因此，核创新与研究咨询委员会（NIRAB）建议英国政府建立一个国家热工水力学设施（NTHF）。威尔士政府的Ser Cymru资助计划旨在通过招募国际领先的研究人员和团队来发展威尔士的研究基地。通过这项计划，波士顿大学获得了650万英镑，用于建立由比尔·李教授领导的核未来研究所（NFI）。一个新的研究小组的重点研究主题之一是核反应堆设计和热工水力学。Marcus Dahlfors博士领导了了解反应堆运行特性的工作，并于2020年春季获得了33万英镑的赠款，用于建立一个试点热工液压开放获取研究（THOR）设施，作为威尔士第一个国家研究设施-英国国家热工液压设施的先驱。北威尔士安格尔西岛的Menai科学园（M-SParc）已成为NTHF的主要候选地点，THOR也是在这里开发的，它被设想为NTHF之前的仪器、技术和方法的支持设施。小型反应堆概念代表了基于现有轻水反应堆技术的接近市场的系统。对于amr，人们提出了新的冷却和燃料方法，以进一步提高安全性和燃料利用率，但这些进步要求更高的举证责任。因此，THOR设施采取的方法是首先开发一个中压水回路，以支持SMR相关的热工液压（T/H）研究和开发，并可选择扩展到一个通用的NFI T/H实验室，以满足先进的高压SMR和AMR回路的需求。NFI目前正在与国家核用户设施（NNUF） 2a阶段拨款的200万英镑热工液压升级和增强研究（THUNDER）竞标，该拨款将于2021年初宣布。我们现有和拟议项目的明确目标是在该地区提供必要的技能提升，并普遍推动英国SMR和AMR技术的发展，以解决碳排放问题。

The emerging new generation of nuclear reactors, small and advanced modular reactors (SMR/AMR), promise a flexible and cost-efficient option for propelling a significant portion of future carbon-free energy production in the UK. These systems will require new materials, coolant compositions and operating regimes, all of which need to be well understood before these new systems may be deployed. Therefore, the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board (NIRAB) has recommended the UK government to construct a National Thermal-Hydraulics Facility (NTHF).The Welsh Government Ser Cymru funding scheme aims to grow the research base in Wales by recruiting internationally leading researchers and group. Through this scheme BU has been awarded £6.5m to establish the Nuclear Future Institute (NFI) under Prof Bill Lee. One of the focal research themes of a new group is nuclear reactor design and thermal-hydraulics. Dr Marcus Dahlfors leads the work on understanding the operating characteristics of reactors and in spring 2020 won a £330k grant to establish a pilot Thermal-Hydraulics Open-access Research (THOR) facility as a precursor to the first national research facility in Wales - the UK National Thermal-Hydraulics Facility.Menai Science Park (M-SParc) on Anglesey, North Wales, has emerged as the primary candidate site for the NTHF, and this is also where THOR is being developed, envisioned as a supporting facility for instrumentation, techniques and methods in advance of the NTHF. SMR concepts represent near to market systems based on existing light water reactor technology. For AMRs, novel cooling and fuel approaches have been proposed to provide further improvements in safety and fuel utilisation, but with advances demanding a higher burden of proof. The THOR facility therefore takes the approach of initially developing a moderate pressure water loop to support SMR related Thermal-Hydraulics (T/H) research and development initially, with the option for expansion into a general NFI T/H laboratory that will cater for advanced high-pressure SMR as well as AMR loops when opportune. The NFI is currently competing with the £2M Thermal-Hydraulics Upgraded and Enhanced Research (THUNDER) bid for the National Nuclear User Facility (NNUF) Phase 2a grant, which is to be announced in early 2021. Our explicit aim with the existing and proposed projects is to provide necessary up-skilling within the region and to generally boost UK SMR and AMR technology development to tackle carbon emissions.