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.

预计在下个世纪管理英国的核遗产将花费 124B 英镑，其中很大一部分来自高放射性锕系废物的处理和处置，例如钚和铀，这些放射性材料的手动处理和化学操作存在危险。许多锕系元素在与空气接触时可能会燃烧，这意味着必须使用技术来防止它们接触氧气和气体，从而进一步增加了该行业的任务，并需要采取极其昂贵的风险缓解措施。最近，自动化工具越来越多地被纳入化学家的工作流程中，提高了安全性和吞吐量，同时减少了时间和劳动力成本。然而，这些系统中的一种试剂是恒定的，这种反应气体对化学的影响不可低估。通过提供干燥环境，可以在惰性或不同的气氛下进行实验，可以获得大量未被发现的科学。重要的是，采用可远程操作的自动化工具来处理锕系元素可以极大地提高研究人员的安全性并降低研究成本。核工业，同时使我们能够缩小目前这些难以探测材料的行为所存在的巨大知识差距。在这个奖学金中，我将开发第一个在没有空气和湿气的情况下进行化学操作的综合自动化技术，并将合作与塞拉菲尔德核电站合作开发用于关键惰性操作远程自动化的安全工具这项工作建立在我在锕系元素科学和无机化学自动化方面的记录基础上，同时也进一步推动了构建满足工业需求的工具。该项目分为三个关键步骤。 ：构建、保护和Validate.I 将首先构建一套技术，允许完全反应自动化，同时排除空气和水，从而允许在不同的气体条件下进行广泛的化学反应。首先，将建立一个低成本的可远程操作的气体和真空分配系统。我还将开发一种集成的气液处理系统，该系统可以系统地清除多个反应器中的空气和水，以及一系列数字可控气密反应器，以安全储存和运输高活性物质。反应通量通过在惰性条件下设计系统，我将提高我们在惰性条件下研究不同反应的速度。接下来，我将制定新策略以确保安全自动化，我将与传感器专家合作。我还将开发新的风险评估技术，该技术可以标记潜在危险并提前建议缓解措施。经合成验证铀化合物作为核废料行为的模型。铀亚氨基络合物可以作为核废料中存在的锕系含氧化合物的可溶类似物，使我们能够利用我的惰性气氛技术来合成模型络合物。随后使用上述技术与一系列相关污染物（例如 H2）发生反应。最后，在整个项目中，我将与 Sellafield 等科学家密切合作，共同设计实验。迎接他们的关键挑战，并展示我的技术对行业的实用性，我还将利用这个奖学金机会加深我与行业的联系，并努力在适当的英国地点实施我的技术和处理放射性材料。