The Environmental Degradation Conference Planning Team is excited to announce the 2027 meeting that will be held in Vancouver, Canada. We are in an era of nuclear energy evolution, and Environmental Degradation is working to support that evolution. While electricity from water reactors has continued to be successful through the development of research-informed reactor aging management practices and improvements in water reactor designs and materials, there is a renewed worldwide interest in other reactor types, including sodium, molten salt, and gas cooled reactors. These coolants are not free of degradation effects, and our goal is to expand the Environmental Degradation meeting to encompass degradation studies associated with these coolants. Our efforts to encompass these coolants began with the 2023 meeting and grew with the 2025 meeting. George Young, who has experience with material development for molten salt and high temperature gas cooled reactor companies, is the Technical Chair this year. He will lead the planning of the 2029 meeting.
Environmental Degradation is updating its presentation and publication process. Although conference papers remain strongly encouraged, presentation-only submissions will now be accepted during the abstract proposal process. This option is intended to make it easier to share timely, “hot-off-the-press” research. At the same time, authors may now request during the abstract proposal process that a manuscript based on research presented at the meeting be considered for publication in a special issue of Corrosion Journal, recognizing the importance of peer-reviewed journal publications for dissemination and impact of research.
The 2027 meeting will depart from the standard location rotation by holding the meeting in Vancouver, Canada rather than the usual U.S. East Coast location, with the goal of encouraging broader international attendance. The conference hotel – the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle – is on the harbor waterfront near the convention center, cruise ship docks, numerous restaurants, and Stanley Park. Vancouver summers are typically sunny with temperatures in the mid-20°C range.
And if those changes aren’t enough, the planning team has expanded to allow international members of the Environmental Degradation community. Fabio Scenini of the University of Manchester and the Henry Royce Institute has joined the conference leadership/planning team rotation as Assistant Technical Chair for the 2027 meeting and will be General Chair for the 2031 meeting.
We gratefully thank AMPP for hosting the conference and managing the logistics.
We look forward to seeing you all in Vancouver and please reach out with any questions!
Best regards, Mychailo, George, and Fabio
