The Welsh Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry looking at Nuclear energy in Wales. It will consider Wales’ role in the UK Government’s nuclear ambitions, the economic impact of a new nuclear power station at Wylfa and the development of nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors.
Senior Lecturer Dr Michael Rushton appeared on prime-time Sky News on the 1st of September to discuss the ongoing situation with the Zaporizhzhia power station in Ukraine - Europe’s largest nuclear power station.
An interdisciplinary team led by Dr Anita Crompton and funded by NERC, has been investigating the feasibility of using waste nuclear heat to decarbonise and stimulate a reversal in the decline of commercial greenhouse use in the UK. This waste heat could provide the low carbon, low-cost heating needed by greenhouse growers to improve the economics of operations. It could also allow an expansion of edible horticulture, which could benefit the industry, UK consumers and the environment.
A new member of staffWe are thrilled to have Sediqa Jalali joining our team as a clerical officer. Hailing from Afghanistan, Sediqa is a Farsi speaker with an education background…
The Bangor University Lead Loop for Erosion/corrosion Testing (BULLET) has been delivered to Bangor University, M-SParc, by SRS in Italy this week. BULLET will test materials in flowing, high temperature lead (Pb).
On 29 July 2022, National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and Bangor University signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see the two organisations work together to advance education and innovation for nuclear in Wales. The MoU will have NNL, Bangor University and the Nuclear Futures Institute share access to infrastructure, facilities and equipment to further the nuclear efforts in the region.
From the 20th – 22nd of June 2022, the Nuclear Futures Institute hosted a three-day conference - The Universities’ Nuclear Technology Forum. UNTF is one of the oldest nuclear engineering conferences in the world. It provides a great opportunity for early-stage researchers to present work to their peers and build their professional network.
This project would aim to investigate the feasibility of producing tritium on the industrial scale that would be required to support the deployment of fusion power so that FPPs would not have to breed their own tritium. The longer-term vision is for the UK to create a tritium production industry that could service both the UK and global FPP industry need. In the shorter term it is recognised that STEP, other UK and international small spherical Tokamak reactors and private fusion endeavours will need tritium supplies for their early year.
On May 10th - 11th, 2022, Bangor University's Nuclear Futures Institute (NFI) was proud to host the first THOR Open Collaboration Meeting at the Menai Science Park (M-SParc), located in Gaerwen, Isle of Anglesey. Aside from representatives from the University, delegates in attendance were - IDOM Rolls Royce United Kingdon Atomic Energy Authority National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)-Daresbury Jacobs Engineering Group Welsh Government Westinghouse Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre Vessco Engineering. M-SParc Dr Michael Rushton opened the meeting by introducing the NFI and its experimental facilities. After this, Dr Marcus Dahlfors delivered a presentation detailing the THOR facility's history, prospects, and future ambitions before providing a tour of the THOR experimental hall and offices – during which many valuable discussions occurred. The second part of the day was dedicated to technical presentations from the THOR commissioning team. These began with a presentation on the loop system design calculations by Dr Jivan Khatry, followed by talks regarding instrumentation design by Dr Jinfeng Li, process control and instrumentation by Dr Abiodun Ayodeji and special sensing techniques such as wire mesh and optical sensing by Mr Harvey Plows. While the primary focus of the collaboration meeting was on the THOR facility, the other planned experimental facilities to be constructed by the NFI at M-SParc were also discussed. This began with a presentation by Dr Alberto Fraile detailing the Bangor University Lead Loop for Erosion Testing (BULLET) facility. After this, and in a similar theme, Dr Robert Annewandter discussed multiscale modelling of lead corrosion. The first collaboration meeting ended with a fruitful open floor meeting. Bangor University, the NFI, and the Reactor Design and Thermal Hydraulics (RDTH) group would like to thank all delegates who attended this first collaboration meeting.
The Nuclear Futures Institute is pleased to highlight the publication of a recent research paper written by Dr Phylis Makurunje and Dr Simon Middleburgh. The paper is titled “Self-contained dual-scale composite architectures in spray dried zirconium diboride” and was published in the Ceramics International journal.