Bangor University is home to the The Boiling Water Reactor Research Hub and Network (BWR Hub), a joint project between Bangor and Imperial College London with funding from Hitachi-GE and the Welsh Government. Bangor’s involvement in MIDAS comes through Dr Simon Middleburgh, Senior Lecturer in the University’s Nuclear Futures Institute. Simon has a strong background of research in the field of Zirconium and nuclear materials, completing a PhD on the simulation of doped nuclear fuels and materials for advanced nuclear systems at Imperial College London, followed by roles at ANSTO in Australia and Westinghouse Sweden. Bangor became formally involved in MIDAS in its first year, through the affiliation of two PhD studentships (Megan Owen and Gareth Stephens) working on closely related topics.
EDF is the largest nuclear utility in the world, operating 73 reactors. EDF France has been involved with Zirconium activity in the UK since the first MUZIC programme began in 2007, remaining a key member of the ongoing MUZIC consortium, and involved in a range of other UK and international Zirconium research activities. EDF is a member of the Nuclear Fuel Industry Research (NFIR) programme, which coordinated the irradiation campaign on the BOR-60 samples. More recently, EDF Energy (UK) has also become increasingly active in the collaboration, becoming a key MIDAS stakeholder. EDF is closely involved in MIDAS through the sponsorship of several PhD studentships, including EDF-based MIDAS student Clément Sakael, while Dr Antoine Ambard of EDF Les Renardieres is a visiting academic at the University of Manchester.
The Henry Royce Institute is a £250M UK national institute focused on developing and accelerating exploitation of the UK’s world-leading research and innovation base in advanced materials science. The research aims of MIDAS are closely aligned with those of the Royce Institute and several of its themes, including Nuclear Materials and Materials Systems for Demanding Environment. The core MIDAS academic institutions are all Royce Institute partners, and have benefited from investments made in research facilities and people. The facilities used by MIDAS at NNL, MRF and the Dalton Cumbrian Facility have also received significant investment through the Royce Institute, as well as the National Nuclear Users Facility. MIDAS is seen as a flagship programme by the Royce Institute, and an exemplar of the transformative research it was founded to enable.
Jacobs’ nuclear business supports customers in the energy generation, new build, decommissioning and defence sectors. They have an internationally recognised zirconium alloy research team, with a long-standing history of work in the field. Currently the team at Jacobs has a strong focus on corrosion behaviour, underpinned by a state-of-the-art high-temperature testing facility, which MIDAS researchers will be able to access. As part of MIDAS, Dr Aidan Cole-Baker of Jacobs is spending significant time at Manchester through a visiting academic position, allowing him to undertake hands-on research, particularly in the area of X-Ray Diffraction and the application of the CMWP technique. Jacobs are sponsoring a number of MIDAS PhD studentships, including that of Sarah Sherry, a Jacobs employee who is studying part-time, working on a PhD focused on TEM characterisation of the BOR-60 samples.
MIDAS makes extensive use of the facilities available at The Materials Research Facility (MRF), at the UKAEA site in Culham, which enable the preparation and characterisation of BOR-60 samples initially of too high an activity level to be stored and worked on in university laboratories. MRF was established with UK Government funding as part of the National Nuclear User Facility (NNUF), later receiving further funding from the Henry Royce Institute, with the intention that it would enable precisely the kind of nuclear materials research undertaken in MIDAS. The programme is the first large grant to utilise MRF to such an extent and as such is playing a key role in demonstrating the potential and efficacy of MRF. MIDAS will also be influential in shaping the development of the facility for future programmes, helping position the UK as a key site for work in the field of advanced post-irradiation examination (PIE).
The National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) is the UK’s national laboratory for nuclear fission, deploying nuclear technology to a broad range of national and international markets, and providing independent and authoritative advice on nuclear issues. NNL plays a key role in MIDAS, holding the BOR-60 sample set at its active storage facility in Cumbria, where they are cut and prepared for transportation to partner sites when at sufficiently low levels of radioactivity. MIDAS experimental work also takes place on-site at NNL, making use of dedicated labs and facilities with active sample handling capabilities. NNL has well-established research expertise in the area of nuclear materials, and is a long-standing partner of the MIDAS team, as well key member of numerous large-scale UK and international fuel cladding consortia such as MUZIC and the BEIS-funded Accident-Tolerant Fuels programme. Several NNL members are closely involved in MIDAS, including Dr Jonathan Hyde, Chief Technology Officer for Reactor and Operations Support. and Visiting Professor at both Oxford and Manchester.
The Nuclear Fuel Industry Research Program (NFIR) was initiated by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in 1982, with the participation of nuclear utilities, fuel vendors and research laboratories from Europe, America and Asia. NFIR continues to this day, with an extensive range of members from the global nuclear commercial and research sectors. NFIR instigated the large-scale irradiation campaign at the BOR-60 test reactor in Russia, which provided the irradiated samples that are the bedrock of the MIDAS programme. CEA, an NFIR member, also played an invaluable role in the transportation of these samples into Europe, and eventually into the UK. The process of irradiating and then transporting these samples took over a decade, underlining how critical it is that MIDAS achieves its commitment to undertake novel, ground-breaking, impactful research. Several NFIR member organisations, including EPRI and CEA, are members of the MIDAS Independent Advisory Board, helping to ensure this delivery.
Rolls-Royce is a significant stakeholder in the UK and global nuclear industry, and their interactions with members of the MIDAS team go back well over a decade. The company’s engagement with MIDAS encompasses interests in a number of key technical areas, and they will be closely involved as one of the programme’s a key industrial advisors, alongside other primary stakeholders such as EDF, Jacobs and Westinghouse. Rolls-Royce will sponsor numerous PhD studentships throughout the programme, facilitated in part by Rolls-Royce Nuclear University Technology Centres (UTCs) at both the University of Manchester and Imperial College London. Rolls-Royce are also co-sponsors of Philipp Frankel’s Senior Research Fellowship, while Fionn Dunne holds a Rolls-Royce Research Chair, providing strong links between the company and the MIDAS community.
Université de Lille is involved in MIDAS through the joint supervision of EDF-based PhD Clément Sakael. At Lille, Clément will be supervised by Ludovic Thuinet, with access to UMET, Lille’s bespoke Materials and Transformations Laboratory.
Westinghouse has a vast global presence in the nuclear and wider energy industries. Zirconium research in the UK has long-standing links with Westinghouse, particularly through MUZIC, which began as an EPSRC-funded project in 2007, and is now a global consortium in which Westinghouse has a leading role. The MIDAS team works particularly with Westinghouse Sweden, who manufacture nuclear fuel assemblies, and therefore have a great interest in fuel cladding research. The BOR-60 samples, the irradiated material critical to MIDAS, indeed originate from Westinghouse (also members of NFIR). It is due to Westinghouse’s efforts, their preexisting work with MIDAS members, and their confidence in the research undertaken here, that the UK was selected for the site for these materials to be studied. Westinghouse will be closely involved in MIDAS, including the sponsorship of a of number PhD students.