Two professors, K.L . Murty and Jacob Eapen of the Department of Nuclear Engineering received a grant from the Department of Energy to conduct research on better ways of storing spent nuclear fuel.
A total of $4.5 million has been granted by DOE to five universities, including an estimated $700,000 as to Murty and Eapen . Their research will be conducted in integrated research project that looks to strengthen nuclear programs at American universities as a part of Nuclear Energy University Program The program will be lead by researchers at Texas A&M.
Murty said besides universities, researchers from national labs will also participate in the research.
“Some folks from national laboratories, like Savannah Research Labs in South Carolina and Pacific Northwest Research Laboratories in Washington state are also involved in the research project”, Murty said.
According to Eapen , the role of N.C . State in the research is concerned with liability of transporting and storing spent nuclear fuel.
“The research team at N.C . State comprises of K.L . Murty of the nuclear engineering department, a world expert on creep of nuclear fuel and clad materials, and Jacob Eapen , who specializes in multiscale simulations of nuclear materials. Murty and Eapen will design a series of accelerated experiments to analyze the creep failure mechanisms in spent fuel over a extended period of time — up to 300 years,” Eapen said.
Currently spent nuclear fuel is stored in water pools, which have a limited capacity when it comes to storing waste fuel. Hence, there’s a need to develop a new concept of dry storage, in which metal canisters are used to store the fuel once it has been cooled down by water.
“Once the fuel is used up in the reactor, it is put in a water pool outside the reactor but these pools are getting filled up, the idea is to take them out after awhile and put them in what is known as dry storage. But as soon as you take it out of water, due to lack of cooling the residual heat and radioactive material, they may make the material deform and creep and you don’t want anything to rapture and nuclear material to come out. You want everything to be contained nicely in those metal boxes . So the liability lies in storage and moving of the fuel during dry storage,” Murty said.
Eapen and Murty said they plan to focus on “low temperature creep.”
“Our area between us two is low temperature creep. Using the theoretical knowledge and experimental data we should be able to characterize long term storage of spent fuel. We will conduct short term tests and use the data to predict what will happen in thousand years,” Murty said.
He also added that coming up with new materials for canisters in which used fuel is stored, and developing sensors to monitor the fuel will also be a part of their study.
Murty said that this research is necessary because of the huge amount of spent nuclear fuel being generated in the country.
“It becomes very important because of the 100 odd nuclear reactors that are operating in the country, which are generating nuclear fuel which needs to be stored somewhere till government comes up with a plan and/or a site to store that fuel. Meanwhile, we have to see the transportation part of the dumping process,” Murty said.
Students have a chance to get involved as professors look to get two graduate students and a post-doctoral research associate involved in the research. Also, some research opportunities are available for undergraduates.
Murty emphasized that it is a big opportunity for the University. We are now a part of national nuclear research project, which helps professors collaborate on theoretical modeling and experimental aspects.
He said he will attend a meeting in November in Las Vegas where people from DOE, universities and various other organizations will gather and exchange the prevailing issues in the field.
In December, the first official meeting of about 15 faculty members will take place to discuss plans on the research project.
“Our partnership in this project is a testament to the strong nuclear engineering program at N.C . State University. We are one of the top ranking programs in the country and high profile projects like these will continue to attract top students to our program,” Eapen said.
Walter Ashburn, a sophomore in nuclear engineering, said students will be highly benefited from the research.
“Not only will Murty and Eapen’s research help the global community, perhaps improving the way we store nuclear fuel, it will also help the University. Laboratories and equipment used by researchers here at N.C . State are often made available to students. This provides graduates and undergraduates better tools for furthering their education,” Ashburn said.
