1. Welcome to the National Physical Laboratory
Energy and Environment Sector Programme Jane Burston NPL Sector Lead Energy & Environment PEG Meeting 5 October2017
Introduce me
Going to go through how we’ve built up high level energy and environment sector strategy – based on gov and industry priorities
Welcome to the National Physical Laboratory

2. Title

3. The National Physical Laboratory is operated by NPL Management Ltd, a wholly-owned company of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

4. Gas and Particle Metrology
Paul Brewer
Science Area Leader, Gas and Particle Metrology
Energy and Environment Sector PEG Meeting
5 October2017

5. Title

6. The National Physical Laboratory is operated by NPL Management Ltd, a wholly-owned company of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

7. Emissions and Atmospheric Metrology Richard Brown Knowledge Leader, Environment Science Area Leader, Emissions and Atmospheric Metrology Energy and Environment Sector PEG Meeting 5 March 2017

8. Title

9. The National Physical Laboratory is operated by NPL Management Ltd, a wholly-owned company of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

10. Earth Observation, Climate and Optical Radiation Metrology Nigel Fox Science Area Leader, Earth Observation, Climate and Optical Energy and Environment Sector PEG Meeting 5 October2017

11. Title

12. The National Physical Laboratory is operated by NPL Management Ltd, a wholly-owned company of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

13. Electrochemistry Gareth Hinds Science Area Leader, Electrochemistry
Energy & Environment PEG Meeting 5 October2017

14. Title

15. The National Physical Laboratory is operated by NPL Management Ltd, a wholly-owned company of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

16. Welcome to the National Physical Laboratory
Nuclear Metrology and Radiochemistry* NMR (a) Radiochemisty & (b) Radionuclide Metrology NMR17-2 Neutron metrology Paddy Regan NPL Professor of Radionuclide Metrology *Peter Theobald Group Leader, Nuclear Metrology Energy & Environment PEG Meeting 5 October 2017
Welcome to the National Physical Laboratory

17. Overview Vision: • A sustainable low-carbon economy
• Scientific discovery, innovation and R&D intensive growth
• The well-being and security of the citizen
Primary standards
Nuclear decay data
Capabilities and method development
Reference materials
Proficiency tests
Training
Measurement infrastructure

18. Research Highlights Nuclear Metrology - Neutron fluence standards
Investigation of high-intensity neutron fields based on Be(d,n) reaction. Potential use in radiation hardness and overload testing or radiography.
Low-scatter area in constant use for NMS and customer work at radiation protection level neutron fields
The message here is that we are trying to extend the range of neutron fields and services we offer. With the d-Be reaction we can produce a lot of neutrons and hence high doses. These can have uses in radiation hardness testing, instrument overload testing, and possibly neutron radiography. (If asked we have had enquiries about all three of these possibilities.) The yield is, however, so high the target will need to be shielded to produce a collimated beam. We will also need to perform spectrometry to determine the spectrum. This work is all calculational so far and has been undertaken by Graeme Taylor who as well as calculating the doses has been designing a suitable collimator – see the red line in the plot. Because there has to be a hole in the collimator for the beam line, there is a high dose rate at 180 degrees as well as at 0 degrees. We have a place for the facility and it would go where the red star marks a box in the left hand picture.
2017 October PEG meeting

19. High-energy Bonner sphere neutron spectrometry
Bonner spheres with metal shells to extend measurement range to high-energies for applications around high energy accelerators e.g. those for proton therapy.
Investigation of the high-energy response via measurements at the CERN CERF facility designed to mimic cosmic ray neutron spectra at aircraft flight altitudes
Bonner sphere are one of the most commonly used neutron spectrometers because they can, in principle, cover the full range of neutron energies of interest. However, sphere responses tend to fall off rapidly at energies above 10 MeV even for the largest polyethylene spheres. The solution to this and the way to produce a response at high energies is to include metal shells which produce neutrons via (n,2n). These reactions tend to only occur for high energy neutrons and produce two neutrons of lower energy and thus give a sphere with such a shell incorporated a high energy response..
There is a need for spectrometry at high energy accelerators for radiation protection, in particular at proton therapy facilities where secondary neutrons produced by the protons in the accelerator, or even in the patient, result in a whole body dose to the patient which may result in the induction of secondary tumours. The real problem is that there are no neutron standards above 20 MeV so everything, instrument responses and estimates of the fields at accelerators, depend on calculations, and these are uncertain because the cross sections are poorly known above 20 MeV because of the lack of standards in this region.
2017 October PEG meeting

20. Bonner Sphere neutron spectrometry
Sizewell B spent fuel ponds will soon be full which would stop electricity generation unless another store can be found
Spent fuel transferred from pond to dry storage – significant neutron dose
To satisfy Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) requirements neutron spectra, and thus dose, measured by NPL at 3 stages of the operation
Potential contamination issues for some measurements

21. NPL project to find a better neutron sensor: e. g
NPL project to find a better neutron sensor: e.g., Feasibility Study of an Innovative Active Dosemeter for Radiation Fields dominated by Fast Neutrons (project with Thermo Fisher Scientific).
Find external partners who are developing novel sensors.
IMPACT: Test / characterise those sensors in several of the well-characterised neutron fields available at NPL.

22. Instrument Development and Radionuclide Metrology – Engagement and Impact
NPL supports instrument manufacturers and other national measurement
institutes across Europe to develop new detection/measurement
technologies; for example in the measurement of radioactive gas an
radioactive aerosols.
These instruments are designed to keep nuclear/radiation workers and
members of the public safe during both routine and emergency scenarios.
NPL delivers support through the provision of reference materials, calibration services, access to test facilities and technical consultancy.
This work is funded by BEIS through the National Measurement System and by EURAMET though EMRP/EMPIR projects (e.g. MetroERM, Preparedness,
MetroDecom and MetroDecom-II).

23. Novel neutron detecting materials
Aim: Better neutron sensors for active personal dosemeters – working with Thermo Fisher Scientific and others.
The most promising device (a new prototype Thermo Scientific RadEye) is based on a novel Cs2LiYCl6:Ce (CLYC) scintillator.
Tested in several neutron fields.
Paper presented at ICDA-2 and published in Radiation Physics & Chemistry.

24. Automated tritium/radiocarbon-in-air sampling and measurement system developed by LabLogic (UK). This instrument is designed for routine monitoring of nuclear facilities to ensure the safety of workers. NPL are providing assistance with calibration, testing and technical development of the instrument.
LLWR (UK) and UKAEA (UK) are both interested in this technology and have agreed to host field trials.

25. Fluence measurements for JET
Neutron measuring techniques (long counter top right and activation detectors bottom left) developed under the NMS were used to characterise the output of a neutron generator subsequently used within the JET tokomak to calibrate its neutron monitors.
This is a long story, greatly compressed. The message is that instruments and techniques developed under the NMS have diverse uses.
The neutron generator was a D-T tube bought form a Russian firm. To calibrate the JET neutron monitors they needed the angular dependence of the neutron emission from the device to be well known, and the total emission into 4Pi known to better than 5%. We made measurements at NPL with our long counters and with activation foils and eventually got excellent agreement between the total emission rate as measured with our techniques and the shape of the emission as a function of angle calculated with a detailed MCNP model of the neutron generator. This is the plot bottom right. The measurements at NPL involved people from JET, two Italian labs, and a German lab, as well as NPL staff.
There was a side story to this which may be worth telling if there is time. Initially there was poor agreement between measurement and calculation for the shape of the neutron angular distribution. We suspected the details the Russian firm had given us for the internal construction of the neutron generator were incomplete. We performed a CT scan of the neutron generator at NPL and this proved to be the case. With the revised MCNP model using the CT scan data the agreement is excellent. NPL came out smelling of roses on all accounts.
2017 October PEG meeting

26. Funding provided by BEIS through the NMS and by EURAMET through the following EMRP and EMPIR projects:
MetroDecom: Euramet EMRP project focusing on technology and techniques to support nuclear decommissioning across Europe.
MetroDecom-II: Euramet EMPIR project following on from MetroDecom with same focus on nuclear decommissioning.
MetroERM: Euramet EMRP project focusing on technology and techniques to support environmental monitoring of dose and radioactivity-in-air across Europe.
Preparedness: Euramet EMPIR project following on from MetroERM, with new focus on mobile technology for monitoring dose and contamination following a radiological incident.

27. Additive Manufacturing Facility
Fusion Deposition & Stereolithography Modelling capabilities (for X-ray CT).
Investigation for the production of radioactive thermoplastic standards for use in decommissioning and medical imaging.
Thermoplastic Material development
Tissue equivalent thermoplastics in development
Currently have four fusion deposition modelling printers and one stereolithography printer. Can make our own plastic filament. 2.
A) Neutron and proton activation of stable elements that have been mixed into the plastic matrix is under investigation. Direct doping of radioactivity into the plastic matrix is also being investigated.
B) Multi-head printers can be used to manufacture a replica model with hot spots located accurately inside model.
3. A bone tissue material has been developed, which has been used to produce a mouse model for pre-clinical imaging and radiotherapy dosimetry quality assurance – Mark 2 has lung cavities. Material is being refined to match the ICRU-44 bone. St. Barts Bone material is an epoxy resin material and cannot be printed.
The Christie-NPL Heterogeneous mouse model MK 1 for pre-clinical imaging and radiotherapy dosimetry quality assurance . Middle image shows clear difference between normal plastic and NPL ‘bone’ plastic in CT cross section. Left image shows the printed skeleton over the real mouse skeleton.

28. International Leadership in Radionuclide Standardisations and Outreach.
Proficiency Test Exercise leadership for CTBTO evaluations.
Membership of major Radiation Metrology committees;
e.g., John Keightley ICRM & BIPM committee; elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics (2017).
NPL hosted the 2016 Conference on Applications of Radionuclide Metrology (CARM2016) conference (>100 delegates from nuclear industry, measurement, and academic research sectors) – to hold CARM2017 in Nov.
Invited Scientific Presentations at major national and international conferences, including ICRM (Seattle); Institute of Physics Nuclear Physics Conference (York); IRRMA (Chicago), ICDA2 (Surrey),

29. Activity standardisation of 227Th
For targeted radio-immunotherapy of micro-metastasised tumours e.g. lymphomas.
Undergoing phase-I clinical trials in UK, US and Sweden.
Traceability to NPL primary standard for accurate administration to patient and dosimetry.
Member of the 235U decay series.

30. New nuclear data for 227Th
Accurate nuclear data needed for determining separation time of 227Th from decay progeny.
A key stage for medical application.
Current data very poor! Large spread, large uncertainties, poor accuracy!
New absolute -ray intensities determined using NPL primary standard.
Uncertainties typically improved by 16x.

31. New Nuclear Data (for IAEA/ENSDF/JENDL) – Engagement, Collaboration and scientific impact: Publications in the highest impact nuclear physics journal.
First their decay half-lives from ‘fast-fission’ of 238U performed at RIKEN Lab (Japan)
First measurement of 238U(n,f) fission residues ‘in-beam’ using tuneable neutron source – links to NANA development and NPL fast-neutron source.

32. Science Impact: Standardisation using the NAtional Nuclear Array (NANA)
The multi- ray detector NANA used as a primary standard.
Absolute activity of 60Co determined using the - coincidence technique. Effect of angular correlations on the activity clearly observed

33. Science Impact and Development: First primary measurements with a LaBr3-APPC system (A.K.Pearce, S. Jawari et al.)
The first standardisation is underway on the lanthanum bromide/proportional counter based coincidence system.
The gamma response of the system is being modelled with GEANT to improve estimation of counting corrections, particularly for electron capture radionuclides such as 152Eu and 54Mn

34. Vision Advances in metrological science and on data
analysis: Determination of Radioactive Half-life Measurements and Uncertainties.
Vision
Work in collaboration with the
Data Science Division at NPL
Institute radiation metrology Egypt
Department of applied mathematics and sciences, Khalifa University.
First measurement of a radioisotope (211Pb) using the statistical sampling method.
The method was made applicable to nuclear decay by developing a Monte Carlo method – paper submitted to METROLOGIA.

35. Recent highlights - Radiochemistry
MetroDecom, a pan-European research project for metrological support to safe and efficient nuclear decommissioning has been successfully concluded.
The project will help reducing the enormous decommissioning costs of more than one hundred nuclear facilities in Europe by development and implementation of new measurement techniques.
NPL’s Nuclear Metrology group led WP1 Characterisation of materials present on decommissioning sites and WP4 Monitoring of radioactive waste repositories.
The key achievements include:
development of methods for radiological characterisation of decommissioning materials
remote mapping of contamination inside nuclear facilities
development and implementation of free release measurement facility
development of reference materials and standard sources for calibration, validation and testing of devices, instruments and procedures

36. Connect & collaborate
Purification procedure for 155Tb developed in support of CERN MEDICIS project.
Measurement required input from the radiochemistry, medical physics and nuclear metrology groups
155Tb potentially beneficial for nuclear imaging and cancer treatment.

37. Connect & collaborate
MPys placement from University of Surrey (10 months)
Investigating 3D printing of phantoms for nuclear medicine imaging
Procedure incorporates radiochemical separation of radionuclides, material characterisation, and radionuclide production
End date Dec 2017
Joint-funded PhD student with GAU-Radioanalytical, Southampton
Investigating the role of ICP-QQQ-MS for measurement of decommissioning radionuclides
First paper on 129I measurement to be submitted as conference proceeding 30/9/17
First University of Birmingham MSc placement student in Radiochemistry Group (3 months)
Developing radiochemical procedures for measurement of nickel-59 and nickel-63
End product will be a draft procedure for irradiated steel samples
End date Oct 2017

38. Create & deliver
Consultancy work for Sellafield Analytical Services Group
Rapid and accurate measurement of radionuclides (90Sr and 237Np) in aqueous waste samples by ICP-QQQ-MS
Significant reduction in procedural time and comparable detection limits to decay counting techniques
Project included a one week secondment of Sellafield staff to NPL
Radiochemistry support for cancer therapy
State of the art method for the analysis of long-lived precursor nuclides in 223Ra and 227ThCl4 developed for the radiopharm industry

39. NPL Radiochemistry publications (2017)
P. Ivanov, J. Mu, L. Leay, S.-Y. Chang, C. A. Sharrad, A. J. Masters, S. L. M. Schroeder. The Organic and the Third Phase in the System HNO3/TBP/n-dodecane: No Reverse Micelles. Solvent Extr. Ion Exc. 35(4), (2017) doi: /
S.M. Jerome, S.M. Collins, S. Happel, P. Ivanov, B.C. Russell. Isolation and Purification of Protactinium-231. Appl. Radiat. Isot., doi:
Ivanov, P., Collins, S.M., Van Es, E.M., Garcia Miranda, M., Jerome, S.M., Russell, B.C. Evaluation of the separation and purification of 227Th from its decay progeny by anion exchange and extraction chromatography. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2017, 124,
Russell, B.C., Garcia-Miranda, M., Ivanov, P. Development of an optimised method for analysis of 90Sr in decommissioning wastes by triple quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2017, 126, 35-39
van Es, E., Russell, B.C., Ivanov, P., Read, D. Development of a method for rapid analysis of Ra-226 in groundwater and discharge water samples by ICP-QQQ-MS. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2017, 126, 31-34
Larijani, C., Pearce, A.K., Regan, P.H., Russell, B.C., Jerome, S.M., Crespo, M.T., de Felice, P., Lutter, G., Maringer, F., Mazánova, M. Reference materials produced for a European metrological research project focussing on measurements of NORM, Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2017, 126,
Larijani, C., Jerome, S.M., Lorusso, G., Ivanov, P., Russell, B., Pearce, A.K., Regan, P.H. Progress on the chemical separation of fission fragments from 236Np produced by proton irradiation of natural uranium target. Radiation Chemistry and Physics, 2017, Article in press
Larijani, C., Schwender, P., Cockell, C., Ivanov, P., Russell, B., Aitken-Smith, P., Pearce, A.K., Regan, P.H. Destructive and non-destructive measurements of NORM in monazite-rich sands of Brazil, Radiation Chemistry and Physics, 2017, Article in press
Mohamud, H., van Es, E.M., Sainsbury, T., Ivanov, P., Russell, B., Regan, P.H., Ward, N.I. Progress towards the development of a rapid analytical approach for separation of 226Ra using dibenzo-18-crown-6 ether functionalised silica (SiO2) disks, Radiation Chemistry and Physics, 2017, Article in press
van Es, E., Russell, B. Ivanov, P., Garcia Miranda, M., Read, D., Dirks, C., Happel, S. The behaviour of 226Ra in high volume water environmental water samples on TK100 resin. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 2017, 312 (1),
Jerome, S.M., Collins, S.M., Happel, S., Ivanov, P., Russell, B.C. Isolation and Purification of protactinium-231. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2017, in press
Dean, J., Collins, S., García-Miranda, M., Ivanov, P., Larijani, C., Woods, S. . Consensus evaluation of radioactivity-in-soil reference materials in the context of an NPL Environmental Radioactivity Proficiency Test Exercise. Appl. Radiat. Isot Jan 25. doi: /j.apradiso (2017)
Suran, J. et al. Metrology for decommissioning nuclear facilities: Partial outcomes of joint research project within the European Metrology Research Program. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2017, in press

40. Outreach

41. Radiochemistry Outreach
Hibaaq Mohamud, a joint EPSRC-iCASE PhD student with the University of Surrey and the NPL Nuclear Metrology group, was awarded the Best Poster prize at the ALTECH 2017 symposium
Nuclear metrology group contributed to three recent IAEA training courses related to radioactive waste management, radiological characterisation and nuclear decommissioning.

42. The National Physical Laboratory is operated by NPL Management Ltd, a wholly-owned company of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

43. Welcome to the National Physical Laboratory
Electromagnetic Measurement and Technology Prof Nick Ridler IEEE Fellow Science Area Leader, Electromagnetics Energy & Environment PEG Meeting 5 October 2017
Welcome to the National Physical Laboratory

44. Title

45. The National Physical Laboratory is operated by NPL Management Ltd, a wholly-owned company of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

46. Ultrasound and Underwater Acoustics UUA17 Activity 2: Metrology for underwater acoustics
Stephen Robinson
Technical Lead, Underwater Acoustics
Energy & Environment PEG Meeting
5 October 2017

47. Title

48. The National Physical Laboratory is operated by NPL Management Ltd, a wholly-owned company of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).