SBIR Phase I: Development of Metal Foam-based Neutron Sensors for Advanced Nuclear Reactor Instrumentation

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a metal foam electrode-based neutron sensor that can withstand the harsh, high-temperature and radiation-suffused environments of advanced nuclear reactors. Such a product does not yet exist on the market. Advanced nuclear reactors could become a major contributor to our planet’s clean energy solution in the coming decades.

Since their safety and performance rely on instrumentation and control systems, advanced reactors’ successful deployment is contingent on developing commercially viable, adaptable high-temperature and high-sensitivity neutron sensors. Currently, domestic and global market sizes for neutron sensors are approximately $12 million and $50 million per year respectively; both these figures are expected to double over the next two decades.

More broadly, the sensors being developed could find numerous applications in other industries, including medical diagnostics and treatments, medical isotope production, sterilization, space radiation effects, national security/nonproliferation, manufacturing, industrial processes, oil and gas, and direct (electric) energy conversion power devices. Any situation requiring radiation detection and measurement, in any environment, is a potential target market for the proposed sensors.

The intellectual merit of this project lies in gaining an understanding of the complex physics occurring in open-cell metal foams when subjected to nuclear radiation. Under these conditions, these structures both generate and contain a nuclear-excited low-temperature plasma through which an electrical current – at high densities – can be extracted.

The goal of this project is to understand how nuclear-excited low-temperature plasmas in metal foams are affected by various parameters including: radiation type and intensity, foam composition, and foam porosity. The team will execute a research campaign using a nuclear reactor which characterizes these parameters’ effects on sensor performance at both ambient and high temperatures.

The experimental findings, validated by modeling and simulation methods, will test the sensor electrodes’ performance. If successful, the Phase I outcomes are expected to show sensor performance that will significant exceed that offered by state-of-the-art competing devices, ultimately validating this novel concept.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.