Ioannis Alakiozidis
PhD Student - University of Manchester
Project Title: Coated Zirconium Alloy Fuel Rod Cladding for Accident Tolerance.
Ioannis Alakiozidis acquired a BSc in physics and a MSc in Nuclear Science & Technology from the University of Manchester. Ioannis’s PhD project is sponsored by EDF and Westinghouse and aims to bring further insight into the chromium-coated Zirconium alloy claddings intended enhance the accident tolerance of nuclear fuel cladding.
Zirconium is a key structural component in Light Water Reactors (LWR) as it balances between excellent neutronics performance, good mechanical properties, and good corrosion resistance, serving as encapsulation of the fuel. However, the unfortunate Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011 revealed its flaws, as the loss of active cooling in the core caused by the tsunami led to elevated temperatures where Zirconium reacted with steam and produced huge amounts of explosive hydrogen gas.
A leading solution is the addition of a chromium coating to existing zirconium alloy cladding. Ioannis will be using Electron Microscopy (EM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to assess the properties of the coating and then proceed to high-temperature mechanical testing and post-test microstructural evaluation focusing on understanding degradation mechanisms of the coating.