Autonomous Inspection for Responsive and Sustainable Nuclear Fuel Manufacture (AIRS-NFM)

响应性和可持续核燃料制造的自主检查（AIRS-NFM）

• 批准号: EP/V051059/1
• 负责人: Malcolm Joyce
• 金额: $ 191.05万
• 依托单位: Lancaster University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FV051059%2F1
• 关键词: Autonomous; Inspection; Responsive; Sustainable; Nuclear

Nuclear energy, derived from splitting the atom, is an important component of current UK electricity generation because it is low carbon and it is not affected by the weather. In order for the UK to reach its commitment for net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, nuclear power offers a way to offset the UK's previous reliance on electricity production by burning of coal and gas, whilst underpinning periods when renewable sources of electricity (off-shore wind and solar) are interrupted.The fuel from which nuclear energy is derived currently is made from uranium. Fuel for all but one of the UK's existing nuclear power stations is manufactured at Westinghouse Springfields Fuels Ltd., near Preston. However, in the next 10 years, all of these power stations are scheduled to close. In order to offset this loss in low-carbon electricity, new reactor designs are being considered because the requirements of nuclear power have changed since the current generation of operating reactors were built in the 1960s-1980s: modular designs are favoured now in place of large reactors built at site, that will be easier and cheaper to build, and which provide more flexibility over the power that they provide. In the short-term, the UK is considering small modular reactors 'SMRs', that are smaller versions of a long-established design, and advanced modular reactors 'AMRs', which will operate at higher efficiencies at higher temperatures. The UK is well-placed to compete for the manufacture of the fuel for these new reactors because Springfields has more flexibility concerning the range in uranium composition open to it than many of its competitors, but it will need to be competitive on cost.A principal opportunity to reduce the cost of nuclear fuel manufacture is to reduce the likelihood that fuel produced in the factory is not compliant with customer requirements. When this happens, the fuel has to be recycled through the process, unnecessary energy is consumed in recycling it, time is lost and waste is generated. In this research we shall study the uranium manufacturing process in the UK with the aim to investigate whether it can be made responsive to change in order to increase its efficiency and cost effectiveness. We have selected two examples where unexpected change can undermine compliance: uranium enrichment and pellet quality.Uranium enrichment concerns the proportion of 235U present in the fuel; 235U is the isotope that is responsible for most of the energy that is generated. It is a key component of the fuel specification and, because enrichment is not constant across a reactor core, the enrichment of each pellet matters. Enrichment is influenced by changes in the feedstock (uranium hexafluoride) and by faults that might evolve in the manufacturing machinery. We will explore whether the most advanced ways of detecting gamma rays available today can be employed to yield a measurement of enrichment at various points in the process. We will explore whether these measurements can be used to constitute data to be used to adjust the process to avert a change in enrichment, so that the effect on the enrichment of a given pellet can be minimised and hence the need for a whole batch to be recycled is removed.Pellet quality is premised on several factors: one is whether it is cracked or not. Pellets are checked by a variety of means including manually by experts at the end of the manufacturing process. At this stage microscopic cracks can be present occurring after the pellets are baked implying that they could be weakened beyond what is suitable for use in a reactor or that their thermal conductivity may not be uniform etc. We shall explore the use of hyperspectral and high-resolution imaging for this purpose, with the aim of deriving data for use in rendering the process responsive, so that, for example, an evolving flaw in a machine that is causing cracking can be removed before a whole batch is affected.

核能源自原子，是当前英国发电的重要组成部分，因为它是低碳，并且不受天气影响。为了使英国到2050年对二氧化碳排放的承诺，核能提供了一种方法，可以抵消英国先前通过燃烧煤炭和天然气来依赖电力生产的依赖，而在可再生源（off-s-Shore Wind和Solar）可再生的源（Off-Shore Wind和Solar）中断的情况下，核能从核能中中断出来。除英国现有的核电站之一外，所有燃料都是在普雷斯顿附近的西屋Springfields Fuels Ltd.生产的。但是，在接下来的10年中，所有这些电站都计划关闭。为了抵消低碳电力的这种损失，正在考虑新的反应堆设计，因为核能的要求发生了变化，因为当前一代的操作反应堆是在1960年代至1980年代建造的：现在，人们可以使用模块化设计来代替现场建造的大型反应堆，这将更加容易且更便宜，并且可以为其提供的功率提供更大的灵活性。在短期内，英国正在考虑小型模块化反应堆“ SMR”，它们是长期建立设计的较小版本和高级模块化反应器“ AMR”，该反应器将在较高温度下以较高的效率运行。英国的位置良好，可以为这些新反应堆的燃料制造而竞争，因为斯普林菲尔德的灵活性比许多竞争对手都具有更大的灵活性，但它的灵活性比其许多竞争对手开放，但是它将在成本上具有竞争力。当发生这种情况时，必须在整个过程中回收燃料，在回收它时会消耗不必要的能量，浪费时间并产生浪费。在这项研究中，我们将研究英国的铀制造过程，目的是调查是否可以响应变化，以提高其效率和成本效益。我们选择了两个例子，其中意外变化会破坏依从性：铀富集和颗粒质量。幼虫富集涉及燃料中235U的比例； 235U是负责生成的大多数能量的同位素。它是燃料规范的关键组成部分，并且由于反应堆芯的富集不是恒定的，因此每个颗粒的富集都很重要。富集受原料变化（铀六氟化物）的变化以及可能在制造机械中发展的断层的影响。我们将探索是否可以使用最先进的检测伽玛射线的方法来实现在此过程中各个点的富集度量的测量。我们将探讨是否可以使用这些测量值构成数据，以调整该过程以避免富集的变化，以便可以最大程度地减少对给定颗粒的富集的影响，并需要删除整个批次的质量。在制造过程结束时，包括专家手动手动的各种手段来检查颗粒。在此阶段，可能会出现裂纹，这意味着它们可能会削弱它们超出适合在反应堆中使用或它们的热导率可能不均匀的等等等。我们应探索过度和高分辨率成像的使用，以使该过程用于范围，以便于该过程，例如，该过程可以使该过程逐渐呈现，因此，它可以使该效率逐渐成为一种效果，例如，vlaw是一种vlaw for ver，因此，它可以使其成为一种效率，因此，它可以将其vlaw for verol，因此可以使其逐渐成为一种效率，例如，它可以使该效率受到影响。在影响整个批次之前被删除。

项目成果

Super Resolution Hyperspectral Imaging based Automated Inspection of Nuclear Fuel Pellets

基于超分辨率高光谱成像的核燃料芯块自动检测

• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Zabalza, J.

Passive, non-destructive enrichment measurement of sintered UO2 fuel pellets

烧结 UO2 燃料芯块的被动、非破坏性富集测量

• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Parker, A. J.

Wireless information transfer with fast neutrons

利用快中子进行无线信息传输

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2021.165946
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
• 作者: Joyce M

Robust Data Driven Analysis for Electricity Theft Attack-Resilient Power Grid

• DOI: 10.1109/tpwrs.2022.3162391
• 发表时间: 2023-01
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Power Systems
• 影响因子: 6.6
• 作者: I. Khan;Nadeem Javaid;James Taylor;Xiandong Ma

Digital twin challenges and opportunities for nuclear fuel manufacturing applications

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113013
• 发表时间: 2024-04
• 期刊: Nuclear Engineering and Design
• 影响因子: 1.7
• 作者: M. Bandala;P. Chard;N. Cockbain;David Dunphy;D. Eaves;Daniel Hutchinson;Darren Lee;Xiandong Ma-Xian