This project will develop a suite of atomistic and mesoscale computational tools augmented with experimental characterization to predict forward and inverse relationships between physical chemical…

Georgia Tech Research Corporation will receive $1.395 million from the Department of Homeland Security under the National Nuclear Forensics Expertise Development Program to develop computational tools and experimental characterization methods for predicting material phase changes in actinide alloys due to oxidation, hydriding, corrosion, irradiation, and radiation damage from May 2023 through April 2026. The award will support the development of atomistic and mesoscale modeling augmented with experimental work to study phase transformations in actinide alloys during processing and storage that could provide forensic signatures. Two graduate students and two undergraduates will also be trained in characterization and simulation techniques through interactions with scientists at Sandia National Laboratories, leveraging an existing partnership. The work directly addresses technical areas under the National Nuclear Forensics Expertise Development Program, including pre-detonation material signatures and analysis methods.

This project will develop a suite of atomistic and mesoscale computational tools augmented with experimental characterization to predict forward and inverse relationships between physical chemical material production processes and measurable microstructural characteristics. Specifically, characterization and modeling methods will be developed to study the phase changes (including chemical changes) in actinide alloys due to oxidation and hydriding as well as radiation damage. These will then be applied towards understanding the influence of environment and processing on actinide alloys that may be of interest to the nuclear forensics program. A key focus will be on phase transformations in actinide alloys during corrosion (oxidation, hydriding) and irradiation (segregation and precipitation). Such transformations may provide information to the forensics analyst on nature of storage environment as well as age of interdicted sample. Thus this project directly addresses two technical mission areas: TMA 1: pre-detonation material and device signatures as well as TMA 2: pre-detonation analysis methods and tools. Two graduate student fellows and two undergraduate students will be trained in characterization and simulation methods and will spend significant time interacting with national laboratory scientists on these topics. The project will leverage a long-standing- partnership between the PIS at georgia tech and sandia national laboratories that has already resulted in significant research output in the form of method development, research publications and graduate student theses in the fields of corrosion and radiation damage in nuclear materials.