Deciphering Spent Nuclear Fuel Complex Materials Using Model System and High-Resolution Studies

Abstract: The accelerated shift towards carbon neutrality with an increasing demand for energy sovereignty at high density has cast the spotlight upon nuclear energy in fulfilling these requirements in many nations. Although others have tended towards moving away from nuclear power, such as Germany, there persists a ubiquitous challenge of safely and effectively dealing with spent nuclear fuel arising from legacy, current and future nuclear energy production.

Spent nuclear fuel, owing to its heightened radioactivity, chemical complexity and structural variability, has led some to label it as the most complex material in the universe. Precisely and effectively tackling the challenge of spent nuclear fuel materials science requires a combination of challenging direct studies of irradiated specimens with model system studies of synthesized representative materials. The synergy of these methods, combined with high-resolution measurement and theory, enables excellent and relevant understanding unto the behavior of spent nuclear fuel materials supporting both regulators and implementors whilst generating fundamental radiochemical knowledge.

This presentation will subsequently highlight and discuss fundamental experimentally driven efforts to understand and decipher the complexity of (1) mixed-oxide high burn-up spent fuel, used significantly in Germany and Europe, (2) accident-tolerant nuclear fuel redox and microstructural performance, seeing rapid take off in North American and French power reactor units, and finally, (3) potential future-generation IV uranium nitride-based spent fuel inventories, seen as the successor to UO₂.

Bio: Gabriel L. Murphy is a group leader at the Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Nuclear Waste Management and Fusion Energy. Dr. Murphy completed his Ph.D. at the University of Sydney, School of Chemistry and Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. He previously held postdoctoral research positions at the French Atomic Energy Agency and also at Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH.