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The following is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at @MattLWald.
From the batteries in our cell phones to the clothes on our backs, "nanomaterials" that are designed molecule by molecule are working their way into our economy and our lives. Now there’s some promising work on new materials for nuclear reactors.
Reactors are a tough environment. The sub atomic particles that sustain the chain reaction, neutrons, are great for splitting additional uranium atoms, but not all of them hit a uranium atom; some of them end up in various metal components of the reactor. The metal is usually a crystalline structure, meaning it is as orderly as a ladder or a sheet of graph paper, but the neutrons rearrange the atoms, leaving some infinitesimal voids in the structure and some areas of extra density. The components literally grow, getting longer and thicker. The phenomenon is well understood and designers compensate for it with a …
From the batteries in our cell phones to the clothes on our backs, "nanomaterials" that are designed molecule by molecule are working their way into our economy and our lives. Now there’s some promising work on new materials for nuclear reactors.
Reactors are a tough environment. The sub atomic particles that sustain the chain reaction, neutrons, are great for splitting additional uranium atoms, but not all of them hit a uranium atom; some of them end up in various metal components of the reactor. The metal is usually a crystalline structure, meaning it is as orderly as a ladder or a sheet of graph paper, but the neutrons rearrange the atoms, leaving some infinitesimal voids in the structure and some areas of extra density. The components literally grow, getting longer and thicker. The phenomenon is well understood and designers compensate for it with a …
Comments
nice blog. I'm reading it daily. Could you please comment a bit the damage report by TEPCO? There are some items that aren't very clear, in particular the reason of the leak of unit 7. Many greetings and keep the spirit. It is important to transmit the facts about nuclear energy.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070720TDY01005.htm
This stuff is significant in the turbine when the turbines are operating, but it shouldn't get out of the plumbing.
I would have thought most of this stuff, especially the coolant in a BWR, would be reasonably earthquake proofed, too.
You might also get traces of activated corrosion products in the BWR coolant too, I guess. I've heard Cr-51 and Co-60 mentioned, which are plausible.