Two projects related to the Tandem Laboratory receive funding from the Swedish Energy Agency
The call funds projects that contribute to future fossil-free electricity production for a sustainable electricity supply. For the two projects “A collaborative platform for research and development for fusion power plants” and “The Nuclear Materials Platform (NuMaP)”, Uppsala University will receive in total ca. 13.6 million SEK. The infrastructure and expertise found at the Tandem Laboratory will contribute to both.
Nuclear fission as well as future fusion power plants are power sources with low CO₂ emissions. The now funded projects both aim to build a platform bringing together different Swedish actors within fusion research and materials research for fission reactors, respectively, to meet the challenges of transitioning to a fossil-free society. Both projects have a strong connection to materials physics, which is where the Tandem Laboratory comes into play. Our infrastructure will be used to study, test and develop nuclear materials.
A collaborative platform for research and development for fusion power plants is a collaboration between Chalmers University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Uppsala University. Eduardo Pitthan Filho, Jacob Eriksson (both Physics and Astronomy) and Daniel Primetzhofer (Physics and Astronomy and Tandem Laboratory) are the participating researchers from UU. The main scientific goal of this proposal is to establish a platform for fusion energy research in Sweden that will further develop and validate modelling tools necessary for power plant design. To achieve this goal, the researchers will not only develop models but also build on machine learning from studies performed by Swedish research groups at major European fusion research facilities as well as from accelerator-based materials analysis and modification experiments at the Tandem Laboratory. The project received funding of almost 27 million SEK, of which ca. 7.5 million SEK go to UU.
The SIGMA system for in-situ ion beam analysis and materials modification at the Tandem Laboratory will be used in the projects. Photo: Svenja Lohmann
Safety, economy and sustainability in the nuclear energy industry are all depending on the materials used for critical components. The Nuclear Materials Platform (NuMaP) gathers researchers and industry from across the country working on nuclear materials under a common umbrella. The initial partners in NuMaP are KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Linköping University, Luleå University of Technology, Uppsala University, as well as Blykalla and Swerim. From Uppsala University, Daniel Primetzhofer and Gunnar Westin (Chemistry-Ångström) are involved in the project. The project is granted almost 40 million SEK of which about 6.1 million SEK go to Uppsala University.
Svenja Lohmann