The purpose of the 22nd Environmental Degradation meeting is to foster an exchange between plant operators, industry and academic researchers concerning materials degradation issues and solutions in the nuclear power plants of today and the future.
This meeting covers issues facing nickel base alloys, stainless steels, pressure vessel and piping steels, zirconium alloys, and other materials in nuclear power systems. Components covered include pressure boundary components, reactor vessels and internals, steam generators, heat exchangers, fuel cladding, irradiated components, fuel storage containers, and balance of plant components and systems. We are also looking to the future with sessions on advanced material manufacturing methods, SMRs and Gen IV reactors.
Join an international group of industrial and academic leaders for this opportunity to exchange experience, research and ideas.
David Morton, Chair, 22nd Environmental Degradation Conference
After registering for the International Conference on Environmental Degradation, use this invitation letter, your registration confirmation, and other required documents for your visa application.
Download The Invitation Letter
Dr. Peter Andresen has over 50 years of experience in the nuclear industry, including 38 years at GE Research. He coordinates a large SCC laboratory at the Lucideon M+P Laboratory in New York, and interacts and consults with a wide variety of international organizations.
He has a BS, MS and PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and has published over 500 papers and has 27 patents. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of NACE and ASM. He received the Speller Award from NACE, the U.R. Evans Award from the British Institute of Corrosion, and the Lee Xun Award in 2011 from the Institute for Metals Research in China. He was selected to give the Plenary Lecture at the ~6000 attendee NACE annual conference in 2018.
Susan Ortner is a Principal Materials Scientist at the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory and Honorary Professor at the University of Bangor. She has worked in the nuclear industry for more than 30 years performing investigations for customers in the UK, the rest of Europe, the US and Japan. Her work focusses on the interplay between microstructure and bulk properties such as yield, toughness and corrosion resistance and the development of mechanistic understanding to underpin the prediction of in-service degradation. Her main area of interest has been the hardening and embrittlement of Light Water Reactor pressure vessels. In consequence, she is a major contributor to the UK Radiation Embrittlement Forum (the UK’s knowledge management program on RPV embrittlement and internals degradation) and is Vice-Chair of the International Group on Radiation Damage Mechanisms. She has also investigated the oxidation and hydriding of Zr-based fuel cladding alloys, the degradation of vessel internals and secondary system components. Based on her work on elevated temperature mechanical properties, she is the UK representative on the Metals Sub-Group of the Generation IV Forum for the Very High Temperature Reactor design, and is involved in projects in support of a UK High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor. She is also the UK representative on the Materials Working Group of the Jules Horowitz Materials Test Reactor.
Gary Was is the Walter J. Weber, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Sustainable Energy, Environmental and Earth Systems Engineering, and holds appointments in Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan. He has held positions as Director of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute, Associate Dean of the College of Engineering, and Chair of the Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Department. Professor Was’ research is focused on radiation materials science and materials for advanced nuclear energy systems. He leads the development of ion irradiation as a technique for predicting neutron irradiation effects in reactor structural materials. Professor Was has published over 300 technical articles in referred, archival journals, presented over 500 conference papers and talks, delivered over 260 invited talks and seminars, and published a graduate level textbook on Radiation Materials Science in 2007 and a second edition in 2017. He is a fellow of five technical societies and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Nuclear Materials.
