Annual Report

Impact
CNE has a number of key partners, but has particularly strong links
with Rolls-Royce, EdF/EdF Energy, AWE, and Hitachi-GE.
Key Partners
Rolls-Royce Nuclear University
Technology Centre
The Rolls-Royce Nuclear UTC opened in 2010
with the ambition to develop and capitalise on
extant capabilities and to establish itself in a
growing nuclear market. The 5-year UTC agreement
ensured a funding commitment to nuclear
research activity in the College in support of
both naval and civil businesses.
The UTC (and the UTC model) has been an acknowledged
success and 2015 saw the renewal
of the UTC agreement for a further 5-year period.
The Rolls-Royce Nuclear University Technology
Centre has been relocated into newly refurbished
offices in the City and Guilds Building,
demonstrating the College commitment to the
UTC. This new site offers space for 30 staff and
students.
This year has seen continued activity in the four
main theme areas – materials performance,
reactor thermal hydraulics, radiation transport
and reactor physics, and NDE.
In the materials performance theme, micromechanics
and its impact on material properties
(hydriding, blocky-alpha, etc) continues as a
growth area under Fionn Dunne, Mark Wenman
and Ben Britton. The impact on structural integrity
is important and collaborative work streams
are underway with Catrin Davies. In addition,
new work streams on tribo-chemical effects are
underway, led by Daniele Dini.
In reactor thermal hydraulics, the large project
in the area of flow modelling in naval and civil
PWRs, supported by Rolls-Royce (Civil and Marine)
is nearing completion. The general thrust
of this work, involving academic staff (Simon
Walker, Mike Bluck, Raad Issa and Geoff Hewitt)
with a mix of nuclear thermal hydraulic and CFD
expertise, has been to conduct a range of research
activities with the general theme of aiding
the uptake into nuclear reactor analysis of
advanced thermal hydraulic methods based on
CFD, with particular reference to their application
to small LWR systems, and especially those
exploiting passive features. A follow-on 5-year
programme of work is under development.
In radiation transport and reactor physics, Matt
Eaton, continues to drive the development of
the RADIANT deterministic radiation transport
code. His team of PDRAs and PhD students continues
to grow and the software is undergoing
installation at the Rolls-Royce site in Raynesway,
Derby.
In NDE - led by Peter Cawley and Mike Lowe,
work on the modelling of ultrasonic response
from rough defects has continued strongly.
Centre for Nuclear Engineering Annual Report 2014-2016 96