Jack Haley

The rationale for Jack’s research is to understand how the environment inside nuclear reactors (pressurised water reactors and fusion) will degrade advanced structural materials and nuclear fuel casings, with an overall aim to ensure the safety of nuclear reactors, improve their efficiency, and extend the operational capability of key components to more challenging scenarios. His approach is to employ state-of-the-art microscopy techniques to gain unique insight into the generation and evolution of radiation damage, and connect this to changes to the mechanical and corrosive properties of materials – topics that are critically important to prevent failure and extend the lifetime of nuclear power stations.

His current project is looking into neutron-induced defects in zirconium-niobium fuel cladding to learn more about their origin and how they degrade the mechanical properties. Jack conducts most of his analysis using transmission electron microscopy, making use of various techniques such as weak-beam TEM, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and 4D STEM.