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Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society

Distinguished Lectures

Prof. Dr. Abdallah Lyoussi

Experimental Physicist, French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission

Lectures

Instrumentation and Measurement in Nuclear Environments

Instrumentation and measurement methods in nuclear environments are key aspects that contribute to the quality of scientific and technological programs in the fields of physics, energy, nuclear fuel cycle, Safeguards and radioactive waste management. Furthermore, measurements relying on nuclear physics now play an important role in various fields of application such as biology, medicine and environment.

 

For nuclear physics and technology side, nuclear experimental/research reactors are widely used around the world for various purposes, such as irradiation of material or fuel samples for present and future power reactors, safety studies, assessment of neutronic parameters (such as neutron absorption cross sections or reaction rates), production of artificial radio-elements, etc.

A sustainable nuclear energy requires research on fuel and material behaviour under irradiation with a high level of performances in order to meet following needs for the benefit of industry and public bodies:

– A constant improvement of the performances and safety of present and coming water cooled reactor technologies. Taking into account the lifetime extension and the progressive launch of generation III, nuclear power plants using water coolant will be in operation through the entire century. They will require a continuous R&D support following a long-term trend driven by the plant life management, safety demonstration, flexibility and economics improvement. Experimental irradiations of structure materials are necessary to anticipate these material behaviours and will contribute to the operation optimisation.

– Fuel technology in present and future nuclear power plants is continuously upgraded to achieve better performances and to optimise the fuel cycle, still keeping the best level of safety. Fuel evolution for generation II and III is and will stay a key stake requiring developments, qualification tests and safety experiments to ensure the competitiveness and safety: experimental tests exploring the full range of fuel behaviour determine fuel stability limits and safety margins, as a major input for the fuel reliability analysis.

– To meet nuclear energy sustainable development objectives in the resources and waste management, generation IV reactors are mandatory and require innovative materials and fuels which resist to high temperatures and/or fast neutron flux in different environments. These environments will be needed for demonstrating the technical, economical and safety performances of these technologies.

To perform such accurate and innovative progress and developments, specific and ad hoc instrumentation, irradiation devices, measurement methods are necessary to be set up inside or beside the reactor core. These experiments require beforehand in situ and on line sophisticated measurements to accurately determine parameters such as thermal and fast neutron fluxes and nuclear heating in order to precisely monitor and control the conducted assays.

As entitled, my lectures will deal with both state of the art of radiation detection in nuclear media and recent advances and associated research, development and innovation in the frame of instrumentation and measurement dealing with nuclear experimental reactor such as ZPR (Zero Power Reactors), MTR (Material Testing Reactors), reactor demonstration prototypes for future nuclear power reactor / fission and fusion (GEN IV, ITER…) as well as nuclear fuel cycle, safeguards and homeland security and radioactive waste management.

Lectures will and could concern:

  • Ray interaction with matter
  • Radiation detection and measurements
  • Non destructives measurements and NDA by using passive and active nuclear methods (passive photon and neutron measurements, active photon and neutron measurements)
  • Advanced measurement methods and research programs in the field of instrumentation and measurement developments dedicated to nuclear experimental reactor.
  • Innovative radiation detector developments/testing and qualification in harsh media
  • Neutron and photon measurement tools and techniques within experimental reactor(s).

About

Prof. Dr. Abdallah Lyoussi, Experimental Physicist
Reactor Studies Department
French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission
Bât. 238, CE Cadarache
13108, Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
E-mail : abdallah.lyoussi@cea.fr
Tel : +33 4 42 25 75 88

Research Interests:

Radiation interaction with matter, radiation detection and measurements, nuclear non destructive measurements, nuclear physics, reactor physics.

Education:

1989: Research Master’s degree in Nuclear Physics, University of Clermont-Ferrand.
1990: Engineer Diploma from INSNT in nuclear sciences and technologies (CEA, France).
1994: PhD in applied nuclear physics, University of Clermont-Ferrand and CEA.
2002: Accreditation to Supervise Research (HDR), University of Clermont-Ferrand and CEA.

Employment:

International Expert in nuclear instrumentation and measurements
Researcher Physicist
Professor at French Institute INSTN
Founder and CEA Coordinator of CEA-AMU common Lab. LIMMEX
Qualified to Professor functions since 2004 (CNU 29)

Since 2010: Founder and CEA Head of joint laboratory between CEA and AMU called LIMMEX, dedicated to Instrumentation and Measurement Methods under harsh/EXtreme conditions: 35 members

Since 2009: CEA scientific manager of research programs between AMU/CEA (IN-CORE: FEDER, 2009-2015; MAHRI-BETHY: CR PACA, 2009-2014) and between AMU/CEA/NCBJ (Poland) with supervision/co-supervision of 4 PhD theses, of 5 post-doctoral fellows, and of 5 master’s degree interns

Since 2012 : Project leader of KIC-Innoenergy European Research Program dealing with development and qualification of Silicon Carbide based Innovative Sensor for Material Ageing and Radiation Testing: 11 European partners (academics, research institutes and industrials). Co supervision of 5 PhDs and 3 Post-doctoral fellows.

Awards & Honors (selected items):

1994 : SFEN (Société Française de l’Energie Nucléaire) awards of the best French researcher.

Service to Professional Societies (selected items):

Since 2009: Founder and General Chair of ANIMMA international conference www.animma.com

Since 2010: Founding member and joint organizer of the Franco-Moroccan School of Nuclear Measurement and Instrumentation – EFMMIN. www.efmmin.com

In 2014 : Organization chair of the 15th ISRD conference (International Symposium on Reactor Dosimetry) www.reactordosimetry.org

Publications, Patents, and Students:

Six patents, over 30 peer review publications, 60 publications international conference/symposium proceedings, 17 PhDs thesis supervised or under supervision.

Contact Lecturer

Contact Dr. Abdallah Lyoussi

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