Ryan has won the R.E. Jervis Award!

The R.E. Jervis Award is provided by the Canadian Nuclear Society (CNS) and recognizes excellence in research and development carried out by a full time graduate student in nuclear engineering or related fields. It is awarded once a year. Congratulations to our PhD candidate Ryan Morco for winning this prestigious prize.

Ryan's work is in materials degradation in the presence of a continuous flux of ionizing radiation, with a particular focus on encapsulant and container materials for long-term storage and disposal of radioactive nuclear wastes. He is currently working on two projects: modelling copper corrosion under radiation, and encapsulation of ion exchange resin wastes using geopolymers.

A summary of one of Ryan’s recent publications can be found here:

Research Spotlight: Modelling of Radiolytic Production of Nitric Acid

And more information about the R.E. Jervis Award can be found here:

https://www.cns-snc.ca/cns/jervis_award/

Waste Management Conference 2019

Nine members of the Wren Group attended the Waste Management Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, 3-8 March, 2019. Clara, Thao and Ryan gave oral presentations, and other members of the group presented posters. We exchanged a lot of useful information with researchers working on similar projects, which has stimulated us to think about new directions and technical approaches for our research in this area.

Jennifer is awarded a Roy G. Post Foundation Scholarsip

Jennifer with the award and her parents.

Youn-Gyeong (Jennifer) Shin has been selected as a recipient of a 2019 Roy. G. Post Foundation Scholarship. This scholarship was established to help students develop careers in the safe management of nuclear materials.  It is an international scholarship and she will receive a cash award of $ 5,000 USD and a paid trip to the 2019 Waste Management Conference in Phoenix in March.

Congratulations to Dr. Guo!

Dan Guo has successfully defended his work and become Dr. Guo. Congratulations, Dan!

OPG update visit

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is one of our industrial partners and is collaborating with us on two related projects. The first involves using a high-powered laser to clean oxides from metal surfaces, and the second the use of geopolymers to encapsulate ion exchange resins for disposal. Some OPG scientists and engineers visited us here at Western on 1st November, 2018, so that we could update them on our research progress. Since the last update visit, the laser has been set up in a safety enclosure with a dust extraction system and we have carried out some preliminary oxide collection tests. Oxides have been grown on carbon steel under different conditions and we are progressing towards an understanding of how different oxides compositions and thicknesses affect the cleaning efficiency. Ryan has measured the porosity, compressive strength and leaching properties of the geopolymers he has produced, comparing them to cementitious materials with very promising results.

Rose is awarded a Women in Nuclear scholarship

Razieh KarimiHaghighi

Razieh (Rose) KarimiHaghighi from the Wren group has been awarded a Women in Nuclear Canada Pioneer Scholarship in the graduate student category. The scholarship includes a $3,000, a plaque, and conference and travel expenses to Saskatoon in Sept 26-28. Congratulations, Rose!

Rose's PhD. project involves studying the effect of gamma radiation on the corrosion behaviour of Candu steam generator materials under operating conditions. The project focuses on nickel as it is the main component of the alloy used in the steam generators of nuclear power plants, and understanding its fundamental corrosion behaviour is critical for prediction of alloy longevity.

Dan Guo presents at the Electrochemical Methods in Corrosion Research conference in Cambridge, UK.

Dan Guo presenting his work.

Wren group PhD candidate Dan Guo gave a presentation at the EMCR conference in Cambridge on the 25th July, 2018. His talk was entitled "A New Approach for Corrosion Current Measurement - Dual Electrochemical Cell for Corrosion in Oxidizing Solutions". More information about the EMCR conference can be found here:

http://www.emcrconference.org/

Dr. Joseph gives a talk at the UNENE Research Advisory Committee Meeting

    Dr. Joseph

On 11th May, Dr. Joseph gave a presentation on behalf of Dr. Wren at the The University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE) Research Advisory Committee Meeting #42, at the University of Guelph. The talk was entitled "Radiolysis-induced Corrosion of Dissimilar Metal Welds". 

Dr. Joseph presents at the SCWR Information Exchange Meeting

Dr. Jiju Joseph (far left) presented a talk on behalf of Dr. Wren at the 2018 Information Exchange Meeting on Super-Critical-Water-Cooled Reactors hosted by the Canadian Nuclear Society. The talk was entitled “Effects of Radiolysis on Materials Degradation under Sub‐ and Supercritical Water Conditions: Experimental and Modelling Studies”. The meeting was held in Montreal.

NWMO Update Visit

Dan Guo presenting some of his research results.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is one of our industrial partners and is collaborating with us on several projects involving the corrosion of metals under radiation. On 3rd May, NWMO scientists Dr. Mehran Behazin and Dr. Peter Keech visited us so that we could update them on our research progress and consult on our laboratory protocols. Graduate students Dan Guo, Jennifer Shin, Masoumeh Naghizadeh and Lindsay Grandy gave presentations on the progress of their research projects. Some great insights and suggestions came out of these discussions!