MATERIALS FOR
FUSION ENERGY

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Fusion science has made immense progress since its inception ~100 years ago, with test reactors breaking ever more records of self-sustain fusion. But there is one last big challenge left that we must overcome before fusion energy may become a commercially viable reality: to design materials that can withstand the extreme environments of fusion reactors.

With hundreds of millions of degrees on one side and as low as -196 ºC on the other, bombarded by a steady flow of charged particles, gamma rays and fast neutrons, and subject to extreme magnetic fields, fusion materials are exposed to the most severe conditions of any engineering application.

We are developing new shielding materials that are tolerant to radiation damage caused by high-energy neutrons and gammas. The aim of this project is to develop an understanding of the radiation damage in these advanced shielding materials when exposed to fusion radiation, and the effect that these will have on the materials’ properties. We are currently hiring for the project.

ALLOYS FOR A HYDROGEN ECONOMY

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Many countries worldwide have recognised that hydrogen will play an important role in deep decarbonisation of society. Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is a severe materials degradation process that can cause catastrophic failure of engineering components. Even now, without an established hydrogen economy, HE accounts for a significant portion of corrosion failures, which are estimated to cost globally $3 trillion AUD a year. This will become even more prominent with increasing adoption of hydrogen fuels.

This project aims to develop a new strategy to mitigate hydrogen embrittlement of metal alloys by creating a sacrificial phase within the alloy that irreversibly traps hydrogen and that is microstructurally engineered not to affect the overall mechanical properties of the alloy. To tackle this ambitious goal, we have set up a collaboration between four leading research groups at the University of New South Wales, The University of Sydney, Monash University and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Read more and join this project!

INTEGRATING NUCLEAR SMALL MODULAR REACTORS IN RENEWABLE ENRGY GRIDS

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Renewable energy is helping decarbonise the electricity grid but the large variations caused by non-dispatchable renewable energy sources pose challenges to grid operators who have to balance a variable load (the consumers) with a variable supply (the generators). Load-balancing services are costly, and for the most part not environmentally friendly. However, nuclear small modular reactors (SMRs) provide a promising solution to help stabilize the energy grid (thereby allowing further penetration of renewable sources) while also generating additional carbon-free energy. While nuclear reactors can do this effectively, the previous generation of reactors has not been optimised for this task.

The aim of this project is to understand the effect of fast power ramp rates on nuclear fuel degradation. The findings will inform the development of SMR fuels that are tolerant to the fast power ramp rates required for load-following applications. The project will use a combination of radioactive materials synthesis, advanced characterisation (at ANSTO) and atomic scale modelling (at UNSW) to investigate the effect of power changes on nuclear fuel performance. This position is open to Australian domestic students and comes with a Sir William Tyree Nuclear Scholarships of $7,500 stipend top-up. Read more here.

ACCIDENT TOLERANT FUELS

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Since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear accident, there has been a global push toward the development of nuclear fuel materials would be able to withstand a severe and prolonged accident scenario. While several candidate materials have been proposed, their degradation under extreme environment is still poorly understood.

In collaboration with Westinghouse Electric, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH, Sweden) and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), we are developing three types of ATF, based on uranium silicide, U₃Si₂, uranium nitride, UN, and uranium borides, UB₂.

Using state-of-the-art in-situ neutron diffraction, we are exploring the properties of the materials near their melting temperatures, and have recently shown some unexpected high-temperature phase changes. We are also investigating the performance of a composite U₃Si₂-UN-UB₂ fuel, to see if we can harness the best of each material. See the current opening here.

PHOTO-VOLTAIC (SOLAR CELLS) AND BETA-VOLTAIC (NUCLEAR BATTERIES) FOR SPACE

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Solar panels have been widely used for satellites, but travelling further away from the sun, the available power from solar energy reduces dramatically. An alternative power source is a ‘nuclear battery’, which harnesses the natural decay of radioisotopes to provide a reliable source of power. My research focuses on combining the two sources to provide additional efficiency when in the sun, and independent power when in shaded or low-light scenarios. Specifically, I aim to recycle “nuclear waste” arising from nuclear medicine production and used nuclear fuel, to power a CubeStat for interplanetary missions. This is one of many examples of how used nuclear material is a valuable asset, and hardly a “waste”.