Addressing self-irradiation damage and its impact on the long-term behaviour of nuclear waste matrices
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Huddersfield
Department Name: Sch of Computing and Engineering
Abstract
Nuclear fission offers a reliable low carbon source of energy, but, the nuclear waste generated as a result of nuclear reactor operation needs proper treatment and confinement in a durable material to ensure that the biosphere is not contaminated with radioactive elements in the near and long-term future. Geological disposal (GD) - which involves confining the host material inside a safety barrier (usually a metal canister) and then permanent deposition of such wastepackages in a pre-selected geological site - is now an internationally accepted methodology including the UK. Nonetheless, after thousands of years, the outer safety barrier will get corroded and the host material will be exposed to the surrounding geological conditions. When in contact with water/moisture, the radioelements may be released from the host matrix into the surrounding geology from where they can be transported into the biosphere. Understanding long-term changes in the wastepackages -starting from the day of their fabrication - is a key element in addressing the eventual release of the radioisotopes. Besides corrosion, one of the reasons why the wastepackages will change under geological disposal conditions is the fact that radioactive decay of the confined radioisotopes will damage the host matrix at atomic level called as self-irradiation damage. This damage accumulation over hundreds of thousands to millions of years can potentially alter the chemical and mechanical durability of the wastepackages. These irradiation induced modifications can have a significant effect on the eventual release of the radioisotopes. Thus, addressing radiation stability of the wastepackages is an essential part of demonstrating long-term safety of the geological disposal.
This research proposal will utilize MIAMI irradiation facility at the University of Huddersfield to study the effects of self-irradiation damage and He accumulation in various types of waste packages ranging from glasses to glass-ceramic composites. Using a transmission electron microscope with in-situ dual-ion-beam irradiation, the irradiation induced modifications will be monitored in real time. The dual-ion-beam irradiation represents the closest analogue to self-irradiation damage in nuclear wasteforms yielding reliable and realistic results. These ion irradiation effects will be compared with actinide doping studies to be undertaken in collaboration with nuclear industry partners, thereby, allowing establishing the irradiation conditions necessary to simulate the self-irradiation damage. The research will be undertaken on leached (gels) and non-leached materials to understand the irradiation induced evolution of the wastepackages and address the effect of radiation damage on the leaching and vice versa. By collaborating with external partners such as ANSTO Australia, CEA Marcoule France, University of Cambridge and, National Nuclear Lab UK, this proposal will bring together the experience and expertise of internationally recognised researchers to develop a better understanding of the wasteform evolution due to self-irradiation damage under geological disposal conditions including leaching.
This research proposal will utilize MIAMI irradiation facility at the University of Huddersfield to study the effects of self-irradiation damage and He accumulation in various types of waste packages ranging from glasses to glass-ceramic composites. Using a transmission electron microscope with in-situ dual-ion-beam irradiation, the irradiation induced modifications will be monitored in real time. The dual-ion-beam irradiation represents the closest analogue to self-irradiation damage in nuclear wasteforms yielding reliable and realistic results. These ion irradiation effects will be compared with actinide doping studies to be undertaken in collaboration with nuclear industry partners, thereby, allowing establishing the irradiation conditions necessary to simulate the self-irradiation damage. The research will be undertaken on leached (gels) and non-leached materials to understand the irradiation induced evolution of the wastepackages and address the effect of radiation damage on the leaching and vice versa. By collaborating with external partners such as ANSTO Australia, CEA Marcoule France, University of Cambridge and, National Nuclear Lab UK, this proposal will bring together the experience and expertise of internationally recognised researchers to develop a better understanding of the wasteform evolution due to self-irradiation damage under geological disposal conditions including leaching.
Planned Impact
One of the important outcomes of this research will be to help demonstrate long-term safety of nuclear wasteforms and geological disposal (GD) with regards to radiation damage effects. This is an important aspect in the safety assessment of wasteforms to understand and address any environmental determinants to public health. Through this research, the underpinning role of grain boundaries and grain sizes will directly feed into decisions regarding the future deployment of thermal treatment technology across the NDA estate. In order to apply the results, both Sellafield Ltd. and RWM will need to consider any appropriate changes to their safety cases for storage and disposal and/or waste acceptance criteria. Furthermore, the research will identify and potentially optimize the safe waste loading fraction of different nuclear wasteforms which can help reduce the number of waste packages. This can potentially help bring down the long-term maintenance, transport and disposal costs which are a significant part of the £100 billion to £ 225 billion required over the next 120 years for cleaning and disposal of nuclear waste in the UK. By participation in IAEA's INWARD project, the research will help set up an international standard for studying ion irradiation effects in nuclear wasteforms and help shape research and policy decisions at a global level. The collaborations with; Australian Nuclear Science and Technology organization, Australia; University of Cambridge, UK; National Nuclear Lab, UK and CEA, France and, participation in international projects such as International Atomic Energy Agency's INWARD research project will lead to an effective means of sharing knowledge, practice and expertise among a diverse research base. This will also help strengthen and build further international research collaborations. The workshops, planned to take place at the University of Huddersfield, will also provide a platform to disseminate the results to a wide research base from academia to industry and broaden the research engagement. The research outcomes will have a significant impact on national and global policy decisions and will be critical in aiding modellers and theoreticians in developing models necessary to forecast the behaviour of wasteforms under disposal conditions.
Organisations
- University of Huddersfield (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Collaboration)
- National Nuclear Laboratory (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
- University of Bonn (Collaboration)
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Project Partner)
- University of Cambridge (Project Partner)
- Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (Project Partner)
Publications
Camara O
(2021)
Nanostructuring Germanium Nanowires by In Situ TEM Ion Irradiation
in Particle & Particle Systems Characterization
Camara O
(2021)
Anomalous nucleation of crystals within amorphous germanium nanowires during thermal annealing
in Nanotechnology
Goel L
(2021)
Study on the dissolution of ß-precipitates in the Zr-1Nb alloy under the influence of Ne ion irradiation.
in Microscopy (Oxford, England)
Imtyazuddin M
(2020)
Effect of aluminium concentration on phase formation and radiation stability of Cr 2 Al x C thin film
in Nanotechnology
Jan A
(2022)
Radiation effects on the structure and alteration behavior of an SiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 -B 2 O 3 -Na 2 O glass
in International Journal of Applied Glass Science
Jiang M
(2023)
Helium bubbles in Gd 2 Ti 2 O 7 borosilicate glass-ceramic composites
in Journal of Nuclear Materials
Liu J
(2020)
In-situ TEM study of irradiation-induced damage mechanisms in monoclinic-ZrO2
in Acta Materialia
Mir A
(2020)
Using external ion irradiations for simulating self-irradiation damage in nuclear waste glasses: State of the art, recommendations and, prospects
in Journal of Nuclear Materials
Mir A
(2020)
Effect of decades of corrosion on the microstructure of altered glasses and their radiation stability
in npj Materials Degradation
Mir A
(2021)
An in-situ TEM study into the role of disorder, temperature and ballistic collisions on the accumulation of helium bubbles and voids in glass-ceramic composites
in Journal of Nuclear Materials
Description | The research is still ongoing but some impacts that have already been achieved are listed below: 1. A comprehensive understanding of the microstructures of corroded glasses has been developed which will now be used to develop new microstructure-based glass corrosion models. This work will also help better understand the degradation of archeological/historical glasses in natural weathering conditions. 2. We have developed novel and new methods to study the impact of radiation damage and corrosion. This has led to new Ph.D. studentship funding from the NDA for further R&D of our equipment. 3. In a multi-year study in collaboration with about 15 international partners and supported by the IAEA through its INWARD co-ordinated research project, new results on radiation damage and corrosion of irradiated materials have been obtained, which will result in framing new guidelines for radiation damage studies in waste forms. 4. In a detailed study on the effect of grain size and processing parameters on helium diffusion, new results showing the significant role played by grain size and grain boundaries have been obtained. This will contribute and will need to be considered in the UK safety case, towards improvements in ceramic waste form processing technology. 5. Our detailed investigations on natural minerals have shown how the potential synthetic waste forms might perform in a geological repository. These results are expected to lead to ore confidence in the performance of waste forms, especially, for plutonium management. |
Exploitation Route | The outcomes will be used both by policymakers and he industry in framing guidelines and developing safety assessments. They will also contribute to building public confidence in the safety of the GDF. |
Sectors | Energy Healthcare Government Democracy and Justice |
Description | Our findings have allowed us to develop guidelines regarding the use of ion beams for studying radiation damage in nuclear waste forms. They have also allowed us to speak to the general public as well as to the broader scientific audience regarding the resilience of materials used for the management of radioactive wastes and the safety of the GDF. |
First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
Sector | Energy,Environment,Healthcare,Other |
Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Ion Beam Irradiation for High Level Nuclear Waste Form Development (INWARD) |
Amount | € 4,500 (EUR) |
Funding ID | F11022 , CRP 2183 (https://www.iaea.org/projects/crp/f11022) |
Organisation | International Atomic Energy Agency |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Austria |
Start | 09/2018 |
End | 10/2022 |
Description | Multidisciplinary Underpinning Instrumentation investment |
Amount | £394,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V035940/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2020 |
End | 05/2022 |
Description | NDA PhD Studentship |
Amount | £70,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | National Nuclear Laboratory |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2023 |
End | 09/2027 |
Description | URF |
Amount | £138,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Huddersfield |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 12/2023 |
End | 07/2024 |
Description | Bi lateral collaboration with National Nuclear Lab on studying leaching of wasteforms |
Organisation | National Nuclear Laboratory |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Evaluate the microstructures of powelite based waste glasses |
Collaborator Contribution | Supply the materials, undertake characterizations and provide support to one of my PhD students in using the equipment at NNL. |
Impact | To be updated next year |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Bi lateral collaboration with the University of Cambridge on studying leaching of glasses |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Currently, working on establishing methodologies for evaluating the microstructures of porous gel layers while the UoC is looking at APT for a comparison. |
Collaborator Contribution | Evaluate porosity using the Atom Probe Tomography and compare with the TEM |
Impact | To be updated next year |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with the University of Manchester on TRISO |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A new collaboration was set with Prof. Ping at the University of Manchester to study the effects of radiation damage on TRISO nuclear fuel. A PhD student has been dedicated to this project by the University of Manchester and we have already conducted some pump priming experiments with the aim of developing a new funding bid around it. |
Collaborator Contribution | Supported the experimental work at our facility and they dedicated a PhD student to this work. |
Impact | Pump Priming experiments were conducted and it is expected to result in a new funding bid. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Collaboration with the University of Manchester on TRISO |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A new collaboration was set with Prof. Ping at the University of Manchester to study the effects of radiation damage on TRISO nuclear fuel. A PhD student has been dedicated to this project by the University of Manchester and we have already conducted some pump priming experiments with the aim of developing a new funding bid around it. |
Collaborator Contribution | Supported the experimental work at our facility and they dedicated a PhD student to this work. |
Impact | Pump Priming experiments were conducted and it is expected to result in a new funding bid. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Collaborative work on radiation damage and corrosion with UoS |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | There are several PhD and postdoc level student exchanges and collaborative works taking place with our partners at the University of Sheffield. Our contribution is in terms of irradiation experiments and materials characterisation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Conducted several irradiation experiments and characterization of some corroded specimens. |
Impact | Publications are expected. Already contributed some internal reports |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Natural Minera Characterisation at UoB |
Organisation | University of Bonn |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Prepared natural mineral specimens for collaborative work. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dedicated one week of their equipment and personal time for studies on our mineral specimens. Made significant contributions in data processing, which is still ongoing. |
Impact | A publication is expected. Some proof of concept work was also done, which is expected to become part of a new grant application. |
Start Year | 2024 |
Description | New Collaboration with University of Liverpool |
Organisation | University of Liverpool |
Department | School of Engineering |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | They dedicated a Phd student to work on Helium bubbles in glass-ceramic composites, which is one of the key objectives of my EPSRC grant. As part of this, we supported several irradiation experiments at our facility and took part in regular supervision meetings. The candidate has successfully defended their thesis and we are in the process of publishing two articles (under review at the moment). |
Collaborator Contribution | They allocated a PhD student in-kind to work on this project. As part of this collaboration, they have also provided us with access to their equipment free of cost. |
Impact | Successful completion of the PhD by the candidate named Menghan. Two research articles currently under review. Free access to their equipment for my research team. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | collaborative work on glass corrosion study |
Organisation | Rutgers University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Exchanged corroded samples from Rutgers University for characterization to be carried out at the UoH by A H Mir. The results contributed to the Ph.D. thesis of the candidate at Rutgers and are now in the process of being published in an article. |
Collaborator Contribution | They carried out the corrosion experiments and subsequently processed the data from UoH for use in the publication. |
Impact | Contribution to Ph.D. thesis and a journal article. |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Henry Royce Training School on Best Practices |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Gave a lecture on best practices on ion irradiation and characterization of materials. It was organized by the Henry Royce institute to help students and other researchers learn the best practices so they can better plan their experiments/Research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.royce.ac.uk/events/royce-training-ion-beam-irradiation-and-characterisation-best-practic... |
Description | INWARD Workshop Organisation 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Organized a workshop with experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency and scientists from several international nuclear research centers and academia. During the discussions, it emerged that the community was highly interested in setting up an expert group to benchmark the porosity measurements in several nuclera materials. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | NuFaW22 Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Organized a 3-day workshop at the University of Huddersfield bringing together about 50 participants from 13 countries with 15 unique UK establishments including 6 industrial partners and policy makers. The aim was to disseminate research, build new networks and collaborations, and discuss best practices. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/centres/ibc/events/nufaw22/ |
Description | Partcipated as an expert panel member in Dalton Nuclear Institutes Public lecture |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We had an expert panel discussion on "the future of nuclear waste" for general public dissemination. The discussion is available as a youtube event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osjvcb3vI1Q&ab_channel=DaltonNuclearInstitute |
Description | Public Lecture during British Science Week |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave discovery lecture organised by the University of Huddersfield during the British Science Week in 2023 on the subject of "Nuclear waste and a Sustainable Future''. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCQ8IdeyOOY |