Listening for cracks in nuclear storage, with threads of light

The steel canisters that hold used nuclear fuel have to stay sound for decades, in heat and radiation, mostly unwatched. A University of Pittsburgh team has field-tested a way to listen in: fibre-optic sensors — hair-thin glass threads that carry light — bonded onto storage casks, where a crack or strain changes the light travelling through them. The researchers worked out adhesives that can hold the sensors in place for years under high temperature and radiation, and tested the setup in the field alongside scientists from Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The test closes the project's first phase; the goal now is a hardened, commercial system that could one day watch over storage sites across the country and flag trouble early, while it is still small.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation