The collaborative effort between the United States and the United Kingdom is about to come to fruition as the test capsules they developed are soon to go under extreme heat testing for the future of nuclear energy technology. Both nations shared resources and methods in developing these test capsules, and now, they are on their way to pilot these materials in a highly intense environment.
Its goal for the latest project is to subject the capsules to extreme temperatures that will mirror or replicate an "advanced reactor," with the goal of this trial to analyze how they performed in such conditions.
US and UK's Capsules to Soon Be Tested at 750° C
America's Office of Nuclear Energy shared a new press release that announced that the US and UK's collaboration to develop test capsules was a success, using advanced metal alloys and graphite. The United States' Idaho National Laboratory (INL) finalized the experimental design, with the UK's Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) research team tasked to assemble eight capsules for the test.
The test capsules are made up of as many as 578 samples of "structural materials including advanced steel and various forms of graphite," which will soon go under the "irradiation" process of testing later this year over at the INL.
The UK already sent over the completed capsules to the US that will soon be loaded into the Advanced Test Reactor of the INL that is presently considered the "world's highest power test reactor" which will subject these to extreme heat of about 750° Celsius (1382° F).
Advancing Nuclear Energy for the US and UK
This joint effort by the US Department of Energy's Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) and the UK's National Nuclear User Facility (NNUF) aims to advance and foster nuclear energy research for both nations.
The test is looking to reproduce the conditions of an advanced reactor for the test capsules and would later be analyzed at INL's lab called the 'Hot Fuel Examination Facility' and determine how these materials "performed."
Its results will be later published in NSUF's Material Library.
Nuclear Energy Studies and Milestones
The interest in nuclear energy is growing, and this is because studies have been delivering significant findings and results to their research which only show the potential of this kind of overwhelming power. Recently, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gave its go signal to NuScale's design of the small modular reactor (SMR) that will soon supply the country with clean energy.
Contrary to popular belief, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's recent study revealed that shutting down nuclear plants in the country could lead to a more significant deterioration of the environment. As different nuclear plants are nearing their lifespan, policymakers contemplated closing them down or upgrading them as the best solution, only revealing that its shutdown could lead to over 5,000 pollution-related deaths in a year.
While there are present alternative energy sources in the world, these cannot match what nuclear power can deliver to global energy needs should they see ramped-up developments and begin to replace traditional and proxy sources. The US and UK's recent collaboration is looking to propel nuclear energy adoption with their latest efforts, but it first needs to go under testing to see how these capsules perform when facing overwhelming processes.
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