November 2017

November 27, 2017December 19, 2018

Progress in Developing High Dose Radiation Tolerant Ferritic Steels for Nuclear Applications

SPEAKER:

STUART MALOY

TEAM LEADER FOR THE RADIATION SCIENCE TEAM IN MST-8

LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 11/27/2017 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2017 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

The Nuclear Technology R&D program is investigating options to transmute minor actinides. To achieve this goal, new fuels and cladding materials must be developed and tested to high burnup levels (e.g. >20%) requiring cladding to withstand very high doses (greater than 200 dpa) while in contact with the coolant and the fuel. New ferritic/martensitic and ferritic Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) alloys are being developed with improved radiation tolerance. The ferritic/martensitic alloys include slight variations in the composition of HT-9 to improve resistance to low temperature embrittlement and void swelling. In addition, ferritic ODS alloys are being processed into tube form and tested for future nuclear applications. Recent progress in high dose irradiated materials testing and materials development will be presented.

About the Speaker:

Stuart Maloy is a Team Leader for MST-8 (materials at radiation and dynamic extremes) at Los Alamos National Laboratory(where he has worked for 28 years) and is the advanced reactor core materials technical leader for the Nuclear Technology Research and Development’s Advanced Fuels campaign and the NEET Reactor Materials Technical Lead for DOE-NE. He has a Bachelors (’89) Masters (’91) and PhD (’94) in Materials Science from Case Western Reserve University and is a registered PE in Metallurgy. He has applied his expertise to characterizing and testing the properties of metallic and ceramic materials in extreme environments such as under neutron and proton irradiation at reactor relevant temperatures. This includes testing the mechanical properties (fracture toughness and tensile properties) of Mod 9Cr-1Mo, HT-9, 316L, 304L, Inconel 718, Al6061-T6 and Al5052 after high energy proton and neutron irradiations using accelerators and fast reactors. Characterization of materials after testing includes using transmission electron microscopy for analyzing defects such as dislocations, twins and second phases, using high resolution electron microscopy to characterize defects at an atomic level and nanoscale mechanical testing. Stuart has >180 peer reviewed technical publications and numerous presentations.

November 20, 2017December 19, 2018

MSR Safeguards Considerations and Challenges

SPEAKER:

ANDREW WORRALL

FUEL CYCLE TECHNOLOGY R&D LEADER, AND DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF GAIN

OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY

DATE/TIME:

MON, 11/20/2017 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2017 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) include a large number of reactor and fuel cycle variants, some with liquid fuels others with solid fuels. As a new reactor concept, and one that in many cases includes liquid fuels that involve some form of fuel processing, there is a need to evaluate how safeguards can be applied or needs to be developed, both in terms of the safeguards approaches, and the safeguards technology. This talk will introduce the objective of safeguards, and explain why MSRs require potentially different safeguards approaches and technologies compared with current reactors and fuel cycles, as well as highlight why an early dialogue on safeguards with the reactor vendors is needed.

About the Speaker:

Andrew Worrall is the Fuel Cycle R&D Technology Leader for the Reactor and Nuclear Systems Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the Deputy Director of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy initiative Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN). Andrew received a B.S. in Applied Physics from Lancaster University, UK, in 1992 and M.S. in Physics and Technology of Nuclear Reactors from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 1993. Andrew is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, a Chartered Physicist, and was previously a Royal Academy of Engineering Professor of Nuclear Engineering in the UK. In December 2014, the US DOE Office of Nuclear Energy appointed Andrew as the Laboratory Lead Coordinator for nuclear energy research programs with the UK. Andrew has almost 25 years of professional experience in the United Kingdom and the United States working on and leading multi-disciplinary and multi-national projects in the fields of reactor physics, fuel and core design, plutonium disposition, fuel development and fuel cycle analysis (technical, economics, and safeguards).

November 13, 2017December 19, 2018

Is Nuclear Arms Control Dead?

SPEAKER:

MICHAEL NACHT

THOMAS AND ALISON SCHNEIDER PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY, GOLDMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY, UC BERKELEY. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR GLOBAL STRATEGIC AFFAIRS (2009-2010, ON LEAVE FROM UC BERKELEY)

DATE/TIME:

MON, 11/13/2017 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2017 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

co-hosted by the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium (http://nssc.berkeley.edu/)

The tense international environment with poor U.S.- Russia relations, and great tensions in US-North Korea and US-Iran relations, has called into question whether negotiated nuclear arms control agreements have any future. If not, what does this portend for nuclear weapons proliferation and even nuclear weapon use?

Topics being covered:

1. Value of bilateral and multilateral nuclear arms control in the past

2. The Obama legacy and the response of Russia ("escalate to deescalate"), China, India, Pakistan

3. Current Issues:

a. New START Treaty

b. INF Treaty

c. NPT

d. CTBT

e. Space and Cyber Issues

4. Nuclear Proliferation Prospects

a. North Korea - South Korea, Japan, Taiwan

b. Iran and the JPCOA

c. Others - Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, others (?)

d. Nuclear Terrorism - ISIS, AL QAEDA

5. Trump Administration Nuclear Posture Review (Spring 2018)

About the Speaker:

Michael Nacht holds the Thomas and Alison Schneider Chair in Public Policy. From 1998-2008 he was Aaron Wildavsky Dean of the Goldman School. He is a specialist in U.S. national security policy; science, technology and public policy; and management strategies for complex organizations.

He is the author or co-author of six books and more than eighty articles and book chapters on nuclear weapons policy; regional security issues affecting Russia and China, the Middle East and East Asia; cyber and space policy; counter-terrorism and homeland security; international education; and public management. He recently co-edited and co-authored Strategic Latency and World Power: How Technology Is Changing Our Concepts of Security published by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Center for Global Security Research.

Nacht served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs (2009-2010), after unanimous U.S. Senate confirmation, for which he received the Distinguished Public Service Award, the Department’s highest civilian honor. Previously, he was Assistant Director for Strategic and Eurasian Affairs of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1994-97), during which time he participated in five Presidential summits, four with Russian President Yeltsin and one with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

He is currently chair of the Policy Focus Area for the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium led by the U.C. Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering. He is also co-investigator of a new Department of Defense Minerva Research Project on “Deterring Complex Threats” with colleagues from UC San Diego.

He received a B.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics and an M.S. in Operations Research from New York University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.

November 6, 2017December 19, 2018

Homogeneity and Isotropy Restoration (HIRE) Theoretic Derivation of Multigroup Transport Equations

SPEAKER:

NAM ZIN CHO

PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF NUCLEAR AND QUANTUM ENGINEERING

KOREA ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KAIST)

DATE/TIME:

MON, 11/06/2017 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Fall 2017 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

The talk discusses a new derivation of the multigroup transport equations, that maintain angle-independency in the total cross section and homogeneity in a material region. In this HIRE theory, partial current discontinuity factors (PCDFs) at the material region interface play a crucial role in providing energy condensation equivalence. The PCDFs are efficiently determined by the Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov (JFNK) procedure.

About the Speaker:

Following his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from University of California at Berkeley in 1980, he worked at Science Applications, Inc in Palo Alto and at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island. In 1987, he joined the faculty at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Korea, where he has been mostly involved in teaching and research in reactor physics and neutron transport computational methods. He became a professor emeritus in September 2014. He is Associate Editor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Fellow of American Nuclear Society.