Megan Jones

Zirconium alloys are used as the fuel cladding and pressure tube material in PWR, BWR and CANDU nuclear fission reactors. During service hydrogen is absorbed, leading to the formation of hydrides that act to embrittle the cladding. Due to the difficulties of imaging and quantifying hydrogen contents, the mechanisms for hydrogen uptake and embrittlement are not fully understood

This project focuses on developing deuterium charging protocols and data analysis techniques in order to analyse hydrogen charged zirconium alloy samples using Atom Probe Tomography. This will enable us to investigate the interaction of hydrogen with the microstructure of zirconium alloys. Cold worked Zircaloy-4 samples will be examined to investigate the interaction of hydrogen with dislocations, in order to identify potential hydrogen trapping sites in these alloys.