NE Postdoctoral Projects

Category: Other

MATERIALS

Efficient and reliable operation of a complex engineering system depends critically on the behavior of the materials from which its components are made. In this activity, the dependability of materials for such systems is established by extracting their key fundamental properties, developing an understanding of those properties in relation to the engineering application, and deriving models and performing experiments that allow extrapolation and prediction of the material's behavior under a variety of service conditions. Methods are explored for tailoring materials to fit particular applications. Historically, much of this effort was directed at the behavior of nuclear reactor fuel and cladding materials subjected to the thermal transients associated with the reactor environment. More recently, efforts have been directed toward a number of other diverse issues, including (1) assessing material properties for safety evaluations of foreign reactor designs, (2) tailoring steel railroad surfaces to mitigate crack propagation, (3) developing ductile titanium aluminide for aerospace applications, (4) studying the behavior of nuclear waste forms, (5) assessing the safety of composite flywheels, and (6) understanding irradiation embrittlement in connection with advanced light-water reactor designs and the extension of the life of existing reactors.
Contact: John Holland
| Fax: +1 630-252-5161 | Related Information

INTERNATIONAL WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The United States Departments of State and Energy support programs to assess and improve the availability of water in developing countries. Lab-wide expertise, including that within the International Nuclear Safety and Cooperation group at Argonne National Laboratory, are developing projects to assist developing countries in these efforts. Opportunities exist in integrated water resource management, including the application of desalination and water purification technologies.
Contact: Ron Faibish
| Fax: +1 630-252-4500 | Related Information

SPENT FUEL TREATMENT EQUIPMENT DEVELOPMENT

The Engineering Projects section develops treatment equipment for the Argonne National Laboratory-West spent fuel treatment project. Current work includes the scale up of a remote-ized treatment unit for the purification and consolidation of uranium dendrites from an electro-metallurgical treatment unit. This activity involves performing criticality and safety analyses of the treatment unit, thermal analyses of the induction furnace performance characteristics, engineering studies in Pro-Engineer of the treatment unit design, and qualification testing of the unit at Argonne and Idaho National Laboratory. A fully functional prototype induction furnace test unit is installed at Argonne that supports the treatment equipment development and a crucible materials development and testing programs. Crucible materials testing program objective is to develop materials that will survive the harsh thermal environment in the treatment unit are compatible with the materials processed and will reduce the required preparation steps.
Contact: Christopher Grandy
| Fax: +1 630-252-7577