Inert Atmosphere Automated Synthesis for the Investigation of Nuclear Waste relevant species (DIGINERT)

用于核废料相关物种研究的惰性气氛自动合成 (DIGINERT)

• 批准号: EP/W02702X/1
• 负责人: Nicola Bell
• 金额: $ 146.68万
• 依托单位: University of Glasgow
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FW02702X%2F1
• 关键词: Inert; Atmosphere; Automated; Synthesis; Investigation

Managing the UKs nuclear legacy is projected to cost £124B over the next century, a large portion of which derives from handling and disposal of highly radioactive actinide wastes, such as plutonium and uranium. Manual handling and chemical manipulation of these radioactive materials presents a hazardous task for the industry and requires extremely costly risk mitigation measures to be implemented. The risk is increased further by the potential of many actinide species to ignite on contact with air, meaning technologies must be used to prevent their exposure to oxygen and moisture.Recently, automation tools have increasingly been incorporated into a chemist's workflow, improving safety and throughput while decreasing time and labor costs. However, one reagent is constant in these systems, air. The impact this reactive gas has on the chemistry cannot be understated and a wealth of undiscovered science is made available by providing dry environments which allow experiments to be conducted under inert or different atmospheres. Importantly, the incorporation of remotely operable automation tools for actinide handling could dramatically increase the safety of researchers and decrease costs in the nuclear industry, all while allowing us to narrow the sizeable knowledge gap which currently exists for the behavior of these difficult to probe materials.In this Fellowship I will develop the first comprehensive automation technology for chemical manipulations in the absence of air and moisture and will collaborate with Sellafield nuclear site to develop safe tools for the remote automation of key inert operations. This work builds upon my track record in actinide science and automation of inorganic chemistry but also pushes further towards building tools which meet industrial needs.This project has three key steps: Build, Secure & Validate.I will first build a suite of technologies which allow automation of full reactions while excluding air and water allowing for a wide range of chemistry to be undertaken under different gas conditions. Firstly a low-cost remotely operable gas & vacuum distribution system will be developed which allows multiple reactors to be systematically purged of air and water along with a range of digitally controllable air-tight reactors for the safe storage and transportation of highly reactive species. I will also develop an integrated gas-liquid handing system increasing both safety and throughput of reactions under inert conditions. By designing the system with anaerobic handling in mind I will increase the speed at which we are able to investigate different reactions under inert conditions.Next, I will develop new strategies to ensure safe automation. I will collaborate with experts in sensor design to build feedback into the technology as an early detection system for potential hazards including pressure increases, elevated temperature and radiation leaks. I will also develop new risk assessment technologies which can flag potential hazards and suggest mitigation steps in advance.The technology developed herein will be validated on the synthesis of uranium compounds as models of nuclear waste materials behavior. Uranium imido complexes which can act as soluble analogues of the actinide oxo species present in nuclear wastes and allow us to deeply probe the behavior of these species. Utilizing my inert atmosphere technologies model complexes will be synthesized and subsequently reacted with a range of relevant contaminants (eg H2) using the technology described above.Finally, throughout this project I will collaborate closely with scientists as Sellafield. Together we will design experiments to meet their key challenges and demonstrate the utility of my technology for the industry. I will also build upon this Fellowship opportunity to deepen my ties within industry and work towards having my technologies implemented & handling radioactive materials at an appropriate UK site.

管理UKS的核遗产预计将在下一个世纪耗资124B英镑，其中很大一部分源于处理和处置高分放射性的actacinide废物，例如plut骨和铀。这些放射性材料的手动处理和化学操作对该行业提出了危险的任务，需要实施极为昂贵的风险降低措施。许多actinide物种在与空气接触时被点燃的潜力进一步增加了风险，这意味着必须使用技术来防止其暴露于氧气和水分中。实际上，自动化工具已增加到化学家的工作流程中，改善了安全性和吞吐量，同时减少了时间和劳动成本。但是，在这些系统中，一种试剂是恒定的。这种反应性气体对化学的影响无法理解，并且通过提供干燥环境，可以在惰性或不同气氛下进行实验，从而获得大量未发现的科学。重要的是，合并用于actiDide处理的遥远可操作的自动化工具可能会大大提高研究人员的安全并降低核工业的成本，同时使我们能够缩小这些难以探测这些材料的行为的较大知识差距，这将在这种核心方面销售核能的范围，并开发出核能范围的核能，并开发出核能的核能，并将其与空中的核能相关联，并将其与空中的核能相关联。关键惰性操作的自动化。这项工作是基于我在Actinide Science和无机化学自动化方面的往绩为基础的，也进一步迈向满足工业需求的工具。该项目具有三个关键步骤：建立，安全和验证。我将首先建立一套技术，从而使全面反应自动化，同时不包括在不同的化学范围内进行不同的化学范围，以在不同的情况下进行不同的天然气条件。首先，将开发出低成本可操作的气体和真空分配系统，该系统允许多个反应器系统地清除空气和水，以及一系列数字控制的气密反应器，以安全地存储和运输高反应性物种。我还将开发一个集成的气体式交接系统，以提高惰性条件下反应的安全性和吞吐量。通过考虑厌氧处理系统的设计系统，我将提高我们能够在惰性条件下调查不同反应的速度。我将与传感器设计专家合作，以对该技术进行反馈，以作为一种潜在危害，包括压力升高，温度升高和辐射泄漏的潜在危害。我还将开发新的风险评估技术，这些技术可以标记潜在的危害并提前提示缓解步骤。此处开发的技术将在合成铀化合物作为核废料行为模型的合成中得到验证。可以充当核废物中存在的actinide oxo物种的固体类似物的铀Imido复合物，并使我们能够深入探测这些物种的行为。利用我的惰性气氛技术模型复合物将合成，然后使用上述技术与一系列相关污染物（例如H2）进行反应。从本项目中，我将与科学家作为Sellafield紧密合作。我们将共同设计实验，以应对他们的主要挑战，并展示我的技术对行业的实用性。我还将基于这个奖学金的机会，以加深我在行业中的联系，并致力于在适当的英国网站上实施和处理放射性材料。