Ambient office  = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 128 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 126 nanosieverts per hour

Strawberry pear from Central Market = 145 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 64 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office  = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Carrot from Central Market = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 57 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 52 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office  = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Orange bell pepper from Central Market = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 57 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 52 nanosieverts per hour

Dover sole – Caught in USA = 112 nanosieverts per hour

       Many of the existing four hundred plus commercial nuclear power reactors in the world are reaching or have reached the end of their original forty-year licenses life span. Some of them are going to be shut down and others are applying for or have been granted extension of their legal life span. As reactors age, their concrete and steel deteriorate, and maintenance becomes more and more expensive. There is a lot of research around the world on the question of how to safely and economically extent reactor life spans.
       Russia is aggressively pursuing nuclear technology for internal power generation and external exports not to mention for nuclear weapons development. Scientists from the R and students from the National Research Nuclear University are collaborating on research on new technology to extend the service life of their popular VVER-440 commercial power reactors by up to forty five years. They published their work in the Journal of Nuclear Materials.
       The Russian VVER-440 is the most popular commercial nuclear power reactor in the world. The water-water energetic reactor vessel is one of the most import parts of a nuclear power plant. It could be said that the safety and operating efficiency of the reactor vessel virtually defines the level of safety at a nuclear power plant.
       The components of an operating nuclear power plant are subjected to fast neutron exposure. This results in radiation hardening which is a loss of plasticity in the base metals in the components due to radiation-induced defects phase at the nanoscale.
        The combination of radiation and temperatures of almost six hundred degrees Fahrenheit cause impurity elements to differentiate at the boundaries of the grains in the matrix of the metal alloy. This, in turn, results in reduced crack resistance in the component.
         This reduction in crack resistance limits the safe lifespan of a reactor. The probability of a brittle fracture occurring when a reactor vessel is flooded by cold water in case there is an emergency where the core has to be quickly cooled. In 1991, Russian scientists carried out a “recovery annealing process” on some VVER-440 reactor vessels which extended their service life by up to forty-five years.
         The recover annealing process was developed and patented at the Kurchatov Institute. It requires that a reactor vessel be heated to and baked at different temperatures in a series of phases. Samples are cut from the inner surface of a functional VVER-440 and subjected to comprehensive studies, re-annealing and then studying the samples.
        A professor at MEPhI’s Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering said, “It is essential to conduct this procedure so we can give recommendations on further extending the service life of the reactor vessel and determine the rate of post-annealing radiation embrittlement.”
“Conducting re-annealing with this technology results in the dissolution of radiation-induced precipitation and defects as well as grain boundary segregations,” Kuleshova stated. “This leads to the restoration of the original properties and structures of the base metals, increasing their service life. That is why we need to know more about the structure and mechanical properties of the reactor vessel base metals at different stages in their lifespan, including after re-annealing.”
        Researchers involved in this annealing program said that in order to extend service life by sixty years, there would need to be a second round of recovery annealing after carrying out preliminary studies on the structure and mechanical properties of the base metals in the reactor vessel. This would take place after an annealed reactor vessel had been in operation for a long time.
       This research project required the use of modern high-resolution analytical techniques including transmission and raster electron microscopy, atom probe tomography and Auger electron spectroscopy. In order to ascertain the amount of radiation embrittlement in the metals, there were mechanical tests on static tension and impact bending.
“The participation of MEPhI students in this research showcases the connection Russian students have with real science and the economy, which allows them to work on scientific developments and solve large-scale problems while they are still studying at the university. This increases their knowledge and competence levels and benefits the country’s economy.”

Ambient office  = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Probleno pepper from Central Market = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 57 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 52 nanosieverts per hour

       Early this year, Natural Resources Canada began a process to prepare a roadmap to guide exploration of the potential of on-grid and off-grid applications for small modular reactors (SMRs). Canada wants to be a leader in the SMR marketplace. The Canadian National Laboratories has established a goal of building and operating an SMR at its Chalk River site by 2026. Canadian company Terrestrial Energy began a feasibility study in June of 2017 for siting the first commercial Integrated Molten Salt Reactor at Chalk River. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is currently pre-licensing vendor design reviews for ten small reactors in the three to three hundred megawatt range.
       On June 26th, the government of the Canadian Province of New Brunswick announced that it was committing seven million five hundred thousand dollars to assist the New Brunswick Energy Solutions Corporation (NBESC) in establishing a nuclear research cluster in New Brunswick (NB). The Point Lepreau nuclear power plant is located in NB. NB wants to become a leader in the research and development of SMRs.
       The NBESC is a joint venture between the New Brunswick provincial government and NB Power which operates the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant. It was formed to investigate energy export possibilities.
       It was announced last week that Advanced Reactor Concepts (ARC) would be the first partner in the NBESC nuclear research cluster. ARC is working on the ARC-100 which is a one hundred megawatt integrated sodium-cooled fast reactor with a metallic uranium alloy core.
        Moltex Energy is a UK based company that is the second partner in the new research cluster in NB that is dedicated to the research and development of small modular reactors. Moltex has signed a contract with New Brunswick Energy Solutions Corporation and NB Power.
       The agreement signed by Moltex provides three million eight hundred thousand dollars for immediate development activities. Moltex will open its North American headquarters in Saint John where they will put together their development team. The contract calls for Moltex to deploy its first Stable Salt Reactor – Wasteburner (SSR-W) at the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant before 2030.
        The Moltex SSR is based on a design developed in the U.K. It contains no pumps. Instead, it utilizes convection from static vertical fuel tubes in the core to transfer heat to the steam generators. The fuel assemblies are positioned in the center of a tank that is half filled with coolant salt. The coolant salt moves the heat away from the fuel assemblies to the steam generators which are on the periphery of the tank. The core temperature in the SSR will operate in a range from about nine hundred degrees Fahrenheit to a thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike most common commercial nuclear reactors, the system operates at normal atmospheric pressure. Moltex has also developed the GridRerserve molten salt storage heat concept which would allow their reactor to store energy from intermittent renewable sources.
       Moltex submitted both a fast version and a thermal version of their SSR to the U.K. competition for SMR designs. It has applied for Phase 1 of the Vendor Design Review with the CNSC. Its focus for commercial product development is aimed at the Canadian energy market.
       The Moltex CEO said, “The Moltex stable salt reactor technology is a perfect fit for New Brunswick’s power needs. It uses spent nuclear fuel, which could help solve the province’s future spent-fuel disposal challenge. It is a physically small modular reactor but is able to store energy, so can double or triple its output at peak demand times during the day. Most importantly, the stable salt reactor technology produces very low-cost, clean energy and can reduce the cost of electricity to consumers while achieving low-carbon targets. We are very excited to join our new partners and establish our North American headquarters in New Brunswick.”
       The Provincial Energy and Resource Development Minister said, “We are positioning New Brunswick as a leader in small modular reactor development and deployment in Canada on a global scale. We are looking to grow our economy while we transition to a lower-carbon environment, and partners like Moltex have the ability to make advancements in the energy sector.”
       The NB Power CEO said, “This represents the second significant private sector partner in nuclear technology, research and potential development to join the recently established nuclear research cluster at the University of New Brunswick. It shows that, here in New Brunswick, we can be leaders in developing energy solutions that will not only help meet energy needs but provide great opportunities for development and exports.”