Symposium_L_Program 346.50 Kb

Ionic-covalent (non-metallic) solids play important roles in numerous industrial applications, due to their unique thermal, electrical, magnetic and optical properties. Refractory materials find application at very high temperatures, where metallic materials are not physically stable. In the nuclear industry, there is an impressive diversity of applications for ionic-covalent solids, ranging from nuclear fuel (UO2) to inert matrix materials for actinide transmutation, to host materials for nuclear waste disposal. For future nuclear applications, especially high-temperature Gen IV fission reactors as well as fusion reactors, research is needed to develop structural materials and nuclear fuels that can withstand the extreme environments associated with these reactors. Despite the fact that temperature and irradiation conditions are different in these various applications, it is imperative that research on such materials be treated using common, scientific principles. By employing a science-based approach, we hope to discover the underlying principles of materials’ behaviour in extreme environments, which will aid the development of materials for the next generation of nuclear power stations.

Scope:

Materials science for nuclear applications (fission, fusion, waste disposal and transmutation) is an active field of science of engineering, involving state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical studies. However, nuclear materials research results tend to be presented in an ad-hoc fashion, among many workshops and conferences, most of which are highly applications-oriented. Often, the basic science of nuclear materials research is lost in this shuffle of engineering meetings.

In our symposium, Basic Research on Ionic-Covalent Materials for Nuclear Applications, we intend to assemble the many different research communities working on radiation effects in ionic-covalent materials. The materials of interest in our symposium include both insulators and wide band-gap semi-conductors. In terms of applications, the materials of interest include candidate first-wall materials for fusion reactors, structural materials for high-temperature fission reactors, and inert matrix materials for actinide transmutation or nuclear waste storage. Our goal is to offer these researchers an opportunity to convene and share their many diverse viewpoints on radiation effects in complex, non-metallic materials. We also hope that this symposium will spawn new collaborations between various international research teams.

This symposium will address topics pertaining to the basic solid-state physics and chemistry underlying the behavior of insulating and semi-conducting materials under the extreme conditions encountered in nuclear applications. One special topic that will be highlighted in this symposium is a state-of-the-art review of the role of electronic-excitation processes in nuclear materials, both in ion tracks and atomic collision cascades. We will solicit both experimental studies and numerical simulations that address this special topic.

Another special topic that we will highlight concerns the dynamic evolution of point defects during irradiation. We will examine point defect clustering, extended defect formation, and damage recovery at high temperatures. We will also examine flux effects, another key issue that must be addressed when one attempts to simulate neutron or fission-fragment damage using heavy ion beams. Ultimately, this basic knowledge of point-defect production and radiation damage evolution is desired to validate and improve computer simulations of materials’ structure and property changes under irradiation.

Hot topics to be covered by the symposium:

The symposium will address solid-state processes induced by irradiating particles (electrons, neutrons, or ions) over wide ranges of energy, fluence, flux, temperature, pressure, etc., including:

• Interaction processes of energetic particles in solids
• Amorphization and phase transformations
• Role of electronic excitations: track effects, enhanced diffusion…
• Point-defect formation and clustering
• Extended-defect formation
• In-situ effects: dynamic recovery, flux effects and radiation-enhanced diffusion
• Recrystallization and nanophase formation
• Dissolution of clusters and precipitates
• Modifications of physical properties (thermal conductivity etc.)
• Modeling and simulation of radiation effects

Joint sessions with Symp. B (Ion beam synthesis and modification of nanostructured materials and surfaces) & Symp. V (Nuclear materials) will be organized.

Manuscripts must be submitted on the E-MRS website before the 29 April.
Submitted papers will be peer-reviewed and the proceedings will be published in a special issue of NIM-B (Elsevier)
Author Instructions:  NIMB-Authors_Guide_EES 214.00 Kb

List of invited speakers/talks:

• A. Shluger (UCL, UK): “Materials modification by electronic excitation – looking at the positive side”
• W. J. Weber (Univ. Tennessee-ORNL, USA): “Dynamic recovery of irradiation damage in ionic-covalent materials”
• D. Duffy (UCL, UK): “Including electronic effects in radiation damage simulations of insulating materials”
• M. Toulemonde (CIMAP, France): “An experimental description of track appearance in insulators by swift heavy ions"
• K. Trachenko (Cambridge Univ., UK): “Understanding resistance to amorphization by radiation damage"
• W. Wesch (Jena Univ., Germany): "Amorphization kinetics in semiconductors under ion irradiation"
• M. Ishimaru (Osaka Univ., Japan): “Chemical short-range order in amorphous semiconductors”
• H. Moriceau (CEA-Grenoble, France): “Smart Cut™: review on an attractive process of innovative substrate elaboration”
• P. Garcia (CEA-Cadarache, France): “Nucleation and growth of defect and insoluble atom clusters in uranium dioxide”

List of scientific committee members:

• A. Claverie (CEMES, Toulouse, France)
• A. Iwase (Osaka, Japan)
• G. Mattei (Padova Univ., Italy)
• K. Nordlund (Helsinki Univ., Finland)
• C. Trautmann (GSI, Germany)
• T. Wiss (ITU, Germany)
• S. Zinkle (ORNL, USA)

Sponsor:

Symposium organizers:

Jean-Marc Costantini
CEA Saclay
DMN/SRMA
91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex
France
Tel.: +33 1 69 08 43 88
Fax: +33 1 69 08 71 67
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Serge Bouffard
CIMAP CEA-CNRS-ENSICaen
BP. 5133
14070 Caen cedex 05
France
Tel.: +33 2 31 45 46 13
Fax: +33 2 31 45 47 14
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Kurt Sickafus
Los Alamos National Laboratory
MS-G755
Los Alamos, NM 87567
USA
Tel.: 505 665 3457
Fax: 505 667 6802
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Kazuhiro Yasuda
Department of Appl. Phys. and Nucl. Eng.
Kyushu University
Motooka, Fukuoka 819-0395
Japan
Tel.: +81 92 802 3487
Fax: +81 92 802 3489
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