The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has just awarded a three hundred and three million seven hundred thousand dollar grant to General Electric’s Global Research Center (GRC) for the continued development of a new type of nuclear fuel rod. The GRC will be collaborating with three national laboratories in the project.
       The grant is for a two and a half year project to develop and demonstrate new, more resilient nuclear fuel rods. These new rods will have improved performance in normal circumstances as well as accident situations. GE is bringing its expertise in materials science, 3D printing and jet engine technology to the project. The GRC has been working with a GE-led joint venture named Global Nuclear Fuels (GNF) as well as the Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Idaho National Laboratories. They are also partnering with Southern Nuclear and Exelon Generation.
        GNF has developed a new design for fuel rods called IronClad. This work was part of the DoE’s Accident Tolerant Fuel Program which was launched in 2012. This program was dedicated to the creation of new cladding materials and fuel materials that could better survive a loss of coolant in the core of a nuclear reactor. The new fuel rods were also being developed to improve fuel performance and economics during normal operation of the reactor. ARMOR coating for zirconium cladding was also developed with the help of the DoE program. This new addition to fuel rod cladding has greater resistance to oxidation and protects fuel rods against debris fretting which is the formation of “rust” and pitting of a metal surface in the absence of water.
      Evan Dolley is the technical operations leader in metals at GE Global Research. He said, “With the DOE’s support and in partnership with our National Lab and utility partners, we have an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate our ongoing fuel rod work and ultimately deliver new technologies to market that benefit our US nuclear facilities and those globally.”
      Dolly said that the project team is employing the technical expertise of GE’s Aviation and Additive divisions. Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are high temperatures materials that are used in commercial jet engines to improve performance and efficiency. CMC are being applied to the channel boxes that enclose the fuel rods. Metal endcaps for prototype fuel rods are being 3D printed. Dolley said, “With the integration of nuclear-grade CMCs, we can exploit the higher heat properties of ceramics to build an even more resilient system. And the use of additive is designed to enable a more rapid response if spare parts are needed for other reactor components.”
       Earlier this year, test assemblies of accident tolerant fuel rods using GNF materials were loaded into Southern Nuclear’s Hatch Unit 1 near Baxley, Georgia. Two different types of IronClad test rods were used. One of test rods was a standard rod without fuel inside. The other is a solid bar of IronClad material shaped like a fuel rod. There are also plans for such test rod assemblies to be loaded into Exelon Generation’s Clinton power plant near Clinton, Illinois in 2019.

Ambient office  = 116 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Yellow bell pepper from Central Market = 135 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water =138 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 122 nanosieverts per hour

        Australia has a complex relationship to nuclear issues. They are a major exporter of uranium for nuclear fuel to global markets, but they have rejected the use of nuclear reactors for the generation of electricity although that policy is currently being debated. There are scattered stores of low-level nuclear wastes at over one hundred sites that should be consolidated. Australia has never had an arsenal of nuclear weapons and has enjoyed the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” for defense against foes armed with nuclear weapons. Recently, however, there have been calls for Australia to develop its own nuclear weapons in response to recent U.S. statements to the effect that the U.S. nuclear umbrella may be withdrawn from countries in southeast 6Asia including Australia, Japan and South Korea.
       Australia was caught up in the Cold War. They provided uranium to Britain and allowed Britain to test nuclear weapons in the interior of Australia. They build planes that could be used to deliver nuclear warheads. However, after the Vietnam war, Australia ended its involvement in nuclear weapons programs and ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in the early 1970s.
       In the last decades of the Twentieth Century, Australia’s defense policy came to depend on the U.S. nuclear umbrella and a strong conventional military force. The Australia government issued a 2016 White paper that said, “Only the nuclear and conventional military capabilities of the United States can offer effective deterrence against the possibility of nuclear threats against Australia.”
       Dr. Stephan Fruhling is the Associated Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. Dr. Fruhling believes that Australia’s continuous coastline gives it the unique opportunity to create a “moat” of tactical, short-range nuclear weapons to repel air and martime attacks. In an interview, he said, “In air and naval battle on the high seas, nukes can now be employed without significant risk of collateral damage, much like conventional war heads. Australia could establish a maritime exclusion zone in wartime, to increase the military risk for any country planning a major attack against the continent.”
      If Australia decided to develop its own nuclear arsenal, one major repercussion might be to lose its access to US intelligence, technology, and weapons systems. Dr. Fruhling said, “Before investing in a nuclear program I think we would have to make a genuine attempt at trying to draw closer to the United States and its nuclear arsenal.” 
      Another major repercussion has to do with the strategic situation in southeast Asia with respect to Indonesia. There are fears that if Australia began working on a nuclear weapons program, Indonesia might follow suit. Dr. Fruhling said, “Indonesia has regional leadership ambitions, and a strong sense of independence and will, in coming years, tower over Australia economically as well as in population terms.  Australian acquisition of nuclear weapons would strengthen Indonesia’s reasons to reciprocate, for status as well as security.” Dr. Fruhling believes that the fact that Australia does not have nuclear weapons is very important in discouraging Indonesia and other regional powers from pursuing their own nuclear weapons programs.
       Dr. Fruhling believes that Australia should only consider the development of a nuclear arsenal if there is a direct existential threat to Australia. He said, “I think we would have to genuinely feel under existential threat by a great power from Asia. A serious study would be the key to assessing whether nuclear weapons could really be a solution to our prospective security problems, rather than a distraction from them.”

Ambient office  = 78 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water =109 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 93 nanosieverts per hour

       Concern about the use of radioactive materials for nuclear bombs or dirty bombs has caused nations who fear they may be targets to take steps to prevent the smuggling of radioactive materials across their borders. The United Kingdom is spending funds to enhance their ability to detect radioactive materials inside the U.K.
       The U.K. Border Force has a special program called the Cyclamen monitoring system for the detection of attempts to smuggle radioactive materials into the U.K. at ports and airports. During the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, similar equipment was used to protect Olympic park.
       The Home Office intends to buy as many as ten mobile gamma and neutron radiation detection systems to increase their ability to prevent terrorist attacks employing radioactive materials. This new fleet of vehicles will be able to search for radioactive materials inland and can be deployed quickly to any location as required.
       The U.K. authorities do not believe that such radiological attacks are very likely but in 2006, Russian agents were accused of smuggling polonium 210. This chemical is highly radioactive and was used to fatally poison Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who was living in London.
       The U.K. government developed its first counter-terrorism strategy statement which it called CONTEST in 2003. The strategy was released to the public in 2006. Subsequently, further revisions were made in 2009, 2011, and, most recently, in 2018.
       The strategy confirms the government’s commitment to improve defense capabilities with new technologies to “enhance our detection and screening capabilities, for example at borders, airports and crowded places”. The report emphasized need for cutting edge detection systems that “can be flexibly deployed in a range of environments.” And added, “We will deliver this through investment in modern systems, informed by the latest science and technology research and international collaboration.”
       Last month, the Home Office issued a procurement notice that invited bids for from five to ten “modern vehicle-based gamma and neutron radiation detection systems for various national security and radiological and nuclear counter-terrorism activities.”
       The procurement document for the new mobile detection systems said, “This procurement activity commitment to continue to strengthen the UK’s existing radiological and nuclear detection capabilities. It does not relate to chemical or biological materials. This particular activity is not in response to a specific threat. The use of radiological or nuclear materials in an attack by terrorists remains significantly less likely than a conventional or chemical attack.”
       In 2011, there were one hundred and forty-seven reports of incidents involving radioactive material that were “outside of state control.” In 2016, there were one hundred and eighty-nine such reports. While these reports include illegally smuggled materials, they also include contaminated scrap metal.
       While contaminated scrap metal could constitute a health threat if mishandled, the discovery of illegal materials that had been smuggled into the U.K. is certainly problematic. It is difficult to find the number of illegal radioactive materials relative to the total number of incidents reported but even a few is cause for great concern and a justification for the purchase of the new mobile detection systems.

Ambient office  = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 168 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 167 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water =105 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 93 nanosieverts per hour

       I have often blogged about the problem of nuclear waste disposal. In the U.S. alone there are over a hundred million pounds of spent nuclear fuel accumulating at nuclear power plants, but we have no permanent underground repository for spent nuclear fuel. The soonest we will have such a repository is 2050. The best that we can do is move the spent nuclear fuel rods from the cooling pools at nuclear plants to temporary storage in dry casks either at the site or a temporary storage facility. Any scientific discoveries that could help with this problem are welcome.
      The co-winner of the 2018 Nobel Physics prize is Professor Gérard Mourou. The Nobel prize was awarded to Mourou and Donna Strickland for their work on a technique called Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA). The work was carried out at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester in the USA.
      In the CPA technique, high-intensity, ultra-short pulses are light are generated by a laser. These short powerful blasts of laser light can make extremely accurate cuts in many different materials. In addition to being useful for laser cutting, this technique can also be used to study natural phenomena.
       The pulses of light created by CPA last for one attosecond. This is one billionth of a billionth of a second. With these extremely rapid pulses it is possible to study molecules and atoms. Not only is it possible to study atoms but it may be possible to influence the nucleus of an atom. Apparently, it will be possible to change the number of neutrons in the nucleus. This could result in altering the isotopic composition of radioactive materials and reducing the half-life of their radioactivity.
        Mourou said this in the French language journal, The Conversation, “Take the nucleus of an atom. It is made up of protons and neutrons. If we add or take away a neutron, it changes absolutely everything. It is no longer the same atom, and its properties will completely change. The lifespan of nuclear waste is fundamentally changed, and we could cut this from a million years to 30 minutes!
We are already able to irradiate large quantities of material in one go with a high-power laser, so the technique is perfectly applicable and, in theory, nothing prevents us from scaling it up to an industrial level. This is the project that I am launching in partnership with the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA, in France. We think that in 10 or 15 years’ time we will have something we can demonstrate. This is what really allows me to dream, thinking of all the future applications of our invention.”
       If Mourou can actually transmute nuclear waste and substantially reduce the period during which it is dangerously radioactive, it will have a tremendous impact on the global nuclear industry. Such a solution to the nuclear waste problem could make nuclear power competitive with other sources of energy. Unfortunately, if it takes ten or fifteen years to create a prototype, then it will come too late to be of much help in mitigating climate change.