Applications Engineer, Edison Welding Institute

Fri, March 2, 2012, 10:30 am - Fri, March 2, 2012, 11:30 am

Abstract

The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan has presented a key challenge to the materials community, “Are there materials innovations that can profoundly improve the safety of existing light water reactors?”  Fortunately, the answer is yes although there is much development and implementation to be undertaken.  Using silicon carbide ceramic matrix composites as the fuel cladding in light water reactors would lead to orders of magnitude increase in existing reactor safety.  Transitioning from zirconium alloy nuclear fuel cladding to a silicon carbide composite cladding is fundamentally a materials challenge and would represent the biggest shift in light water reactor materials technology since their original design and introduction.

A key problem that has yet to find a satisfactory solution is joining of the end plug to cladding tube to seal in the fuel pellets once they have been loaded into the fuel rods.  This is an inherently difficult problem to solve from a joining technology standpoint and a unique solution is required based on the in-service requirements.  In this seminar, Dr. Edward D. Herderick will describe the EWI program to engineer a high temperature joining solution that would prevent a nuclear reactor meltdown.

Bio

Dr. Edward D. Herderick is an applications engineer at EWI, co-located with the Welding Engineering program on OSU West Campus.  His research program is focused on joining and coating solutions for applications in extreme environments.  Ed received his PhD in MSE from OSU in 2009 under the advisement of Prof. Nitin P. Padture.  Prior to joining EWI, Ed served as the Materials Societies (MRS, TMS, ACerS) in the Washington, DC office of Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown acting as an advisor on energy, defense, and technology policy.