Modelling for better, safer and reliable nuclear systems
Can one equation help refine designs of future fusion and fission power plants and somehow catch the eye of NASA scientists? If the response to the recently published paper in Nuclear Fusion is anything to go by, the answer is: ”Yes!”
A team of scientists from the UK Atomic Energy Authority Culham Science Centre, University of Oxford and University of Helsinki have worked out an equation that predicts how strains and stresses develop in fusion reactor components when they are irradiated with neutrons. The work, which was carried out under the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium, resulted in a paper titled “A multi-scale model for stresses, strains and swelling of reactor components under irradiation,” and piqued the interest of the scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), US.
First author, Sergei Dudarev, Head of the Materials Modelling Group at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, was invited to give a talk at LANL. The equation elucidated in the paper helps solve a longstanding problem in nuclear engineering: How does one connect atom-scale radiation damage to reactor-scale engineering? The team projects that the newequationwill help with constructing a virtual fusion reactor that will allow improving designs at the planning phase, long before the facilities start operating.
The researchers from the University of Helsinki delivered the advanced atomistic simulations of radiation damage, while mathematicians at CCFE and the Department of Materials of the University of Oxford figured out how to fit the results into one equation. The ultimate aim is to create better, more reliable and safer nuclear systems. With the help of the equation scientists can predict the weak elements in the structure even before the foundations for the nuclear plant are laid.
More information can be found in EUROfusion magazine: Fusion In Europe.
