Publications associées à Development and verification of a methodology for neutron noise response to fuel assembly vibrations

Atomic level insight into irradiation effects in nuclear fuel materials

Microstructural evolution during in-pile irradiation, radiation damage effects and fission products behavior in UO2 nuclear fuel are key issues in understanding and for the modeling of the performance as well as safety characteristics of nuclear fuels in t ...

EPFL2024

Gamma-ray Spectroscopy in Low-Power Nuclear Research Reactors

Andreas Pautz, Oskari Ville Pakari, Vincent Pierre Lamirand

Gamma-ray spectroscopy is an effective technique for radioactive material characterization, routine inventory verification, nuclear safeguards, health physics, and source search scenarios. Gamma-ray spectrometers typically cannot be operated in the immedia ...

MDPI2024

Neutron-Gamma Noise Measurements in a Zero-Power Reactor Using Organic Scintillators

Andreas Pautz, Oskari Ville Pakari, Vincent Pierre Lamirand

Noise measurements in light water reactor systems aid in generating validation data for integral point kinetic parameter predictions and generating monitoring parameters for reactor safety and safeguards. The CROCUS zero-power reactor has been used to supp ...

Ieee-Inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc2024

Intra-pin Reaction Rate Measurements in the CROCUS Experimental Reactor

Andreas Pautz, Oskari Ville Pakari, Vincent Pierre Lamirand, Mathieu Hursin, Thomas Jean-François Ligonnet, Tom Mager

In response to the need for validating high-fidelity deterministic neutronics solvers capable of providing pin-resolved neutron flux distributions, intra-pin reaction rates measurements were performed in the CROCUS experimental reactor. A specially designe ...

2024

Gamma noise to non-invasively monitor nuclear research reactors

Pavel Frajtag, Andreas Pautz, Oskari Ville Pakari, Vincent Pierre Lamirand, Tom Mager

Autonomous nuclear reactor monitoring is a key aspect of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s strategy to ensure nonproliferation treaty compliance. From the rise of small modular reactor technology, decentralized nuclear reactor fleets may strain the ...

Nature Research2024

Experimental study and interpretative modelling of the Power Exhaust in Configurations with Multiple X-Points in TCV

Sophie Danielle Angelica Gorno

Nuclear fusion presents a promising clean energy source to mitigate future energy crises, with magnetic confinement fusion well-positioned to provide a baseload scenario to power future reactors. The unmitigated power exhaust of such reactors threatens its ...

EPFL2024

Heterogeneous catalysis via light-heat dual activation: A path to the breakthrough in C1 chemistry

Bingqiao Xie

A hybrid photothermal catalytic system, which combines both the photochemical (light) and thermal (heat) activation pathways over a bifunctional catalyst, has demonstrated remarkable levels of reaction activity and selectivity when compared with individual ...

Cell Press2024

Innovative thermophysical characterization of an ATF composite cladding: the case of silicon carbide

Andrea Cavaliere

Nuclear power is a powerful technology that plays an important role in the fight against climate change, and research is continuously engaged in studies that could further improve its safety. After the Fukushima accident, Accident Tolerant Fuels research h ...

EPFL2024

Demonstration of a sparse sensor placement technique to the limited diagnostic set in a fusion power plant

Lorenzo Martinelli, Artur Perek

DEMO will have a limited diagnostic set for optimization of reactor performance, and limited diagnostic coverage due to challenging reactor conditions. This poses challenges for control, especially for detachment control which is planned to be performed wi ...

Elsevier Science Sa2024

Reversible photo-electrochemical device for solar hydrogen and power generation

Sophia Haussener, Alexandre Dominique M. Cattry, Saurabh Yuvraj Tembhurne, Matthieu Jonin, Mahendra Patel

A reversible photo-electrochemical device operating under concentrated irradiation could offer a stand-alone solution for producing solar fuel (in photo-driven electrolysis mode) and power (in fuel cell mode). This strategy would present the advantage of h ...

2024

A global framework for data-informed bridge examination

Eugen Brühwiler, Philippe Schiltz, Numa Joy Bertola

Examining the performance of an existing bridge requires information on several aspects, such as design choices, material properties, and ongoing degradation processes. It often happens that some critical information is not available. The traditional appro ...

2024

Design and operational guidelines of solar-driven catalytic conversion of CO2 and H2 to fuels

Sophia Haussener, Sha Li

Sunlight-powered catalytic conversion of CO2 and (green) H2 into fuels and chemicals via Sabatier and reverse water gas shift (RWGS) processes offers a promising solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase renewable energy utilization. The suc ...

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2023

Monte Carlo analysis of BWR geometries using a cycle check-up methodology

Abdelhamid Dokhane, Hakim Ferroukhi, Alexander Vasiliev, Mathieu Hursin, Dimitri Rochman

Recent fuel anomalies at a Swiss power plant have motivated the development at PSI of the "Cycle Check-Up" (CHUP) methodology which consists in performing Monte Carlo transport calculations using nuclide compositions and thermal-hydraulic boundary conditio ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023

A holistic investigation of photocatalytic hydrogen generation

Sangram Ashok Savant

Photocatalytic (PC) solar hydrogen production is a promising way to provide green hydrogen using only sunlight and abundant reactants such as water. PC approaches use catalytically active semiconductor particles suspended in liquid electrolytes. The partic ...

EPFL2023

Down-conversion of a single photon as a probe of many-body localization

Cristiano Ciuti

Decay of a particle into more particles is a ubiquitous phenomenon to interacting quantum systems, taking place in colliders, nuclear reactors or solids. In a nonlinear medium, even a single photon would decay by down-converting (splitting) into lower-freq ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2023

Design of an Instrumented Fuel Rod for Intra-pin Neutron Flux Measurements in the CROCUS Experimental Reactor

Andreas Pautz, Vincent Pierre Lamirand, Mathieu Hursin, Thomas Jean-François Ligonnet, Won Dong Shin, Tom Mager

In response to the need for validating high-fidelity deterministic neutronics solvers capable of pin-resolved neutron flux distributions, an instrumented fuel rod was designed for the experimental reactor CROCUS, operated by EPFL’s Laboratory for Reactor P ...

2023

Extension of the OFFBEAT fuel performance code to finite strains and validation against LOCA experiments

Andreas Pautz, Alessandro Scolaro, Carlo Fiorina, Edoardo Luciano Brunetto

The mechanical analysis of nuclear fuel behavior under base-irradiation conditions has traditionally been performed adopting the small-strain approximation. However, many cases of interest for fuel behavior involve the occurrence of large rod deformations ...

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA2023

Extension, validation, and optimization of Serpent/DYN3D/ATHLET code system for SFR applications

Vincenzo Anthony Di Nora

The sequence of codes Serpent/DYN3D has been developed by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and successfully applied to core static and transient analyses of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). The successful application of the sequence to SFRs was ...

EPFL2023

Gamma-Blind Fast Neutron Detection for Spent Nuclear Fuel Characterization

Alexander Wolfertz

In this thesis, the development and testing of a system for measuring the axial distribution of fast neutron emission of spent nuclear fuel rods is presented. Emphasis is placed on the novel fast neutron detector used which can reliably work in extremely h ...

EPFL2023

Metal Catalysts for the Electrochemical Reduction of CO2

Cedric David Koolen

The world by and large has adopted the The Paris Agreement, which commits any signing party to cut greenhouse emissions drastically and prevent global heating above 2 °C beyond pre-industrial levels. For this ambitious goal to be met, ratifying states need ...

EPFL2023