Nuclear industry applications of physics-Zoomposium1 - 30 May
Published: 7 March 2023
Dr David F. MAHON: ‘Pushing the boundaries of radiation detection for nuclear industry applications’ Dr Guangliang YANG: ‘Application of muon imaging for monitoring nuclear waste and civil engineering infrastructures’ Dr Richard GRAY: ‘Dose rate and spectroscopy where no detector has gone before’
Watch Zoomposium Passcode: B^%E24Pg
Speakers:
Dr David F. Mahon, School of Physics & Astronomy
‘Pushing the boundaries of radiation detection for nuclear industry applications’
My research interests are mostly related to innovations in radiation detection to address complex decommissioning and waste management challenges within the nuclear industry. These include passive inspection of waste containers and infrastructure using natural background radiation via a technique called cosmic ray muography, and the miniaturisation of ionising radiation sensors to characterise contaminated pipework and structures in difficult to access locations. I’ll provide an overview of these research topics, the industry challenges they address and our spin-out companies that are commercially exploiting these technologies. I’m looking for collaborators working on complementary inspection technologies and those with industry links in potential application areas to enhance our capabilities and identify new markets.
Dr Guangliang Yang, School of Physics & Astronomy
‘Application of muon imaging for monitoring nuclear waste and civil engineering infrastructures’
The main interest of my research is non-destructive assay of large objects, such as civil engineering infrastructures, nuclear waste containers. The technique I used is called muon imaging, which offers very high penetrating power, therefore is very suitable for large objects imaging applications. I am also interested in the ultrasound and ground penetration radar imaging techniques. The focus of my research is on the study of the imaging reconstruction algorithms and the image post processing methods. I seek collaborations with people with expertise in machine learning, image processing, data fusion, large civil engineering infrastructure monitoring. I have an interest in funding applications related to: commercial and academic applications of muon imaging technique for monitoring large infrastructures.
Dr Richard Gray, School of Physics & Astronomy
‘Dose rate and spectroscopy where no detector has gone before’
The focus of my research is the development of compact radiation sensors with dose rate measurement and spectroscopic identification capabilities. The systems have been miniaturised and optimised for internal pipe inspection and are capable of traversing complex and tortuous pipe networks down to 2” diameter. There are hundreds of kilometres of nuclear and oil & gas industry pipework that requires monitoring and characterisation for the safe decommissioning and repurposing of both onshore and offshore infrastructure. To date there are no technologies specifically designed to meet this challenge. Our systems can fill this knowledge and technology gap. I am looking to collaborate with mechanical engineers and software/application developers and seek funding/investment for a spinout company to commercialise these and related technologies.
First published: 7 March 2023