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Global Problems and Global Solutions

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SPEAKER:
DR. JOHN GILLELAND

CEO OF TERRAPOWER, LLC.

DATE/TIME:
MON, 10/13/2014 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Fall 2014 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

John will talk about the conditions needed for starting and then controlling international development programs.  Examples are the traveling wave reactor development program, Archimedes Filter development, ITER, and the US-Japan Collaboration on DIII/DIIID.  Similarities and differences will be discussed. John had managerial responsibility in all these programs. Emphasis will be placed on the current TWR program.

About the Speaker:

John Gilleland is the Chief Executive Officer of TerraPower LLC.  The Company is focused on the development of advanced nuclear power systems.

Previously Dr Gilleland founded and served as the CEO of Archimedes Technology Group, a company which created a new technology that could greatly speed up weapons waste cleanup and opens new approaches to commercial spent fuel reprocessing.

As Chief Scientist and Vice president of Energy Programs at Bechtel Corporation he had responsibility for a large number of advanced energy production and energy storage projects. This included large scale renewable energy projects as well as advanced nuclear systems.

Prior to that he served as the US Managing Director of ITER during its Conceptual Design Phase and Director of the DIIID fusion research program at General Atomics.

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AN INSIDER VIEW ON SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING

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SPEAKER:
DR. BAPTISTE GAULT

JOURNAL PUBLISHER, MATERIALS SCIENCE, ELSEVIER LTD.

DATE/TIME:
MON, 10/06/2014 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Fall 2014 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

Elsevier is the world-leading scientific publishing company, with almost 25% market share across most fields within science, technology and medicine. Although researchers interact with the publishing industry on a daily basis, when using databases to seek for papers to support their own research or when trying to get their articles published, yet the internal mechanisms of scientific publishing are usually quite obscure to researchers and more generally to the scientific community.

Since 2005, I have authored more than 65 peer-reviewed research articles and reviewed about 50 for more than 15 journals. I have written the first monograph on atom probe tomography in more than 10 years, have given more than half a dozen invited talks, chaired sessions at international conferences and workshops, and have given invited lectures and seminars in major universities in China, the USA, France, Germany, and Japan. So I have some ideas of the idiosyncrasies of scientific publishing from both perspectives that I hope to share with you.

During this presentation, I will aim to throw light on our roles within the scientific research community that range from article filtering by the editors, quality-insurance via peer-review, dissemination and enabling access via Sciencedirect and databases such as Scopus. This general presentation will be followed by an interactive, Q&A session that will enable me to dwell on the aspects of interest and provide an opportunity for the audience to give feedback and express their expectations.

About the Speaker:

After a PhD at the frontier between physics and materials science in France (University of Rouen, 2006) focused on developing the pulsed laser atom probe microscope, I have successively been a research scientist at The Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis at The University of Sydney (Australia), a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Materials of the University of Oxford (UK), a research scientist at The University of Sydney (again) on a joint position with the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation, and finally an assistant professor at McMaster University in Canada for a few months. I moved into my role of Publisher at Elsevier Ltd. in Dec. 2012.

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Use of burn-up, initial enrichment, cooling time in the characterization of used nuclear fuel assemblies by nondestructive assay

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SPEAKER:
ALAN MICHAEL BOLIND, PH.D.

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR ENGINEERING - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

DATE/TIME:
MON, 09/29/2014 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Fall 2014 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

This presentation will explain why the burnup, initial enrichment, and cooling time of a used fuel assembly – collectively called the BIC set of variables – characterize it to first order for the purposes of nuclear-materials safeguards and burnup credit. From an analysis by basic nuclear engineering, it will be shown that the physical properties and the isotopic content of a used fuel assembly are basically three-dimensional vector spaces. Based on extensive referencing of the NDA literature, it will then be shown that the BIC variables are independent variables with respect to the physical properties and the isotopes. Therefore, the knowledge of all three BIC variables is a necessary condition for the accurate characterization of a used low- or high-enriched uranium (LEU or HEU) fuel assembly. Logically, then, it is necessary to make at least three independent NDA measurements to achieve a unique solution (characterization) if a reliance on information provided by the reactor operator is to be avoided. By this fact, the common question, ‘‘What is the accuracy of a particular NDA technique?’’ is revealed to be a poorly posed one with regard to used fuel assemblies. The result of this analysis is a better paradigm for interpreting and improving the NDA practice of both the safeguards community and the burnup-credit community.

Reference: This talk will be based substantially on my published paper: A. M. Bolind, “The use of the BIC set in the characterization of used nuclear fuel assemblies by nondestructive assay,” Annals of Nuclear Energy, Vol. 66 (2014), pp. 31-50.

About the Speaker:

Alan Bolind earned his Ph.D. degree in Nuclear Engineering, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He then held two successive post-doc appointments in Japan, at Ibaraki University and at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). His research at JAEA was on the science behind NDA techniques for characterizing used nuclear fuel assemblies for safeguards purposes. Since May 2014, he has been working as an Assistant Project Scientist in the Nuclear Engineering department at the University of California, Berkeley. His current main work is on the high-temperature corrosion of materials by liquid metals.

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A Review of Pellet-Clad Interaction Research

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SPEAKER:
DR. MARKUS H.A. PIRO

RESEARCH SCIENTIST & ADJUNCT PROFESSOR
REACTOR SAFETY DIVISION & DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
CHALK RIVER LABORATORIES & ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE OF CANADA

DATE/TIME:
MON, 09/22/2014 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Fall 2014 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

Pellet-Clad Interaction (PCI) in zirconium alloy cladding has been a long-standing concern in the context of fuel reliability. Mitigation measures lead to constraining operational procedures in combination with modifying the manufacturing process of the cladding, adding a composite layer to the cladding and/or applying a protective coating to the inner surface of the cladding.  Although the foregoing remedies have satisfactorily resolved the problem, significant interest remains to extend the operational conditions of existing reactors to higher burn-ups and to relax current (conservative) operational procedures, which were established to minimize the effects of PCI.

Several key historic and current research activities pertinent to PCI
are discussed in this review with a description of the current understanding of the phenomenon. Additionally, recent advances in experimental methods that have been used with great success in studying stress corrosion cracking of non-nuclear materials will be explored. Similarly, development of advanced numerical modelling and simulation techniques of nuclear material behaviour will be discussed. The objective of this review is to outline a path forward to develop a sound scientific understanding of the PCI phenomenon with the overall goal of improving engineering solutions and optimizing operational parameters to enhance performance while maintaining a high level of safety.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Markus Piro is currently a research scientist in the Reactor Safety Division of the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) and an adjunct professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. His primary research interests are in computational thermodynamics, nuclear fuel engineering, multi-scale multi-physics modelling & simulation of nuclear materials, and experimental & computational fluid dynamics. Dr. Piro received a BSc.Eng. and MSc.Eng. in Mechanical & Materials Engineering from Queens University and a PhD. in Nuclear Engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada in conjunction with the Computer Science & Mathematics Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). After completing his graduate studies, he spent two years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Materials Science & Technology Division at ORNL.

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Can Life Exist in a Nuclear Free Zone?: Science and Politics on the Berkeley City Council

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SPEAKER:
GORDON WOZNIAK, PH.D.

BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL- DISTRICT 8

DATE/TIME:
MON, 09/15/2014 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Spring 2014 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

After spending more than three decades trying to understand the physics of the nucleus, I plunged into Berkeley politics. My career as an experimental scientist, where I worked many owl shifts at temperamental accelerators debugging electronics, prepared me for lengthy Berkeley City Council meetings and the chaos of politics. On the Council, we have debated whether exposure to a single radioactive atom will kill you, that cell phones cause brain cancer, nano particles are more dangerous than molecules, and that all man-made substances are more dangerous than natural substances. I will describe how the Council grapples with some of these topics. Finally, I will present some of the challenges facing the City with respect to parking/traffic, potholes, sewer overflows, drones, and budget & pensions and how scientists can help solve these challenges.

About the Speaker:

In 1966 Gordon moved to Berkeley from Iowa to attend graduate school. He received his PhD from UC Berkeley in Nuclear Chemistry and worked as a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for over 30 years, where he co-authored over 200 nuclear physics papers.

While pursuing his research career, he served on several city commissions: Planning, Parks & Recreation, and Environmental. In January of 2002, he took an early retirement from LBNL and twelve months later, he was elected to Berkeley’s City Council.

During his twelve years in office, he has focused on reducing crime, increasing citizen participation, and improving municipal services. In addition, to his work on the Council, Gordon represents Berkeley on the Alameda County Waste Management Authority and the Recycling Board.

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What is That Little Dark Spec in the Box? – Nuclear Forensics of EH&S Sample S338

Norman (1)
SPEAKER:
ERIC B. NORMAN, PH.D.

PROFESSOR

DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

DATE/TIME:
MON, 09/08/2014 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Fall 2014 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

The Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley has been trying to solve a mystery.   This talk will cover the process of the “investigation” and the results.