Bernard Bigot Researcher Grant goes to E2M Scientist

Dr. Andreas Theodorou is one of the 16 post-doctoral researchers that EUROfusion has awarded the “Bernard Bigot” Researcher Grants (ERG). The ERG grants enable early-career researchers to develop innovative ideas and techniques to advance EUROfusion’s Roadmap to Fusion Energy.

The retention of tritium in the components of future fusion reactors is a major challenge from both safety and operational point of view. The reduced activation ferritic martensitic (RAFM) steel EUROFER97 is the most promising candidate for the structural material of the first wall such as the blanket modules. In fusion reactors with a deuterium-tritium plasma, structural materials will be exposed to 14 MeV neutrons, leading to displacements of the atoms from their lattice positions and production of helium as a result of nuclear reactions. The radiation-induced defects and helium clusters act as trapping sites for tritium and consequently, strongly affect tritium diffusion and retention. In the following two years Andreas Theodorou will focus on investigating the thermal evolution of helium-related defects created at reactor-relevant temperatures and on a detailed understanding of their influence on tritium transport and accumulation in EUROFER97 steel.