BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:IEEE vTools.Events//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20230312T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20231105T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:PST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20230518T230117Z UID:6C511352-8C0A-4F2F-B493-282D50627F2B DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230511T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230511T200000 DESCRIPTION:Nuclear reactors create a harsh environment for fuel and struct ural components as they operate at high temperatures and high irradiation and have corrosive components. Precise monitoring of the reactor's environ ment is an ever-present need for the long-term operation and stability of the reactor. The knowledge of the exact conditions is crucial for studying the degradation of fuel and components and improving their performance. T here is a need to create novel sensing solutions to study and record the r eal-time conditions in and out of the pile in the reactor to study microst ructure\, chemistry\, mechanical\, and other property changes when subject ed to irradiation. The temperature range of interest for the fuel and stru ctural component community varies significantly\, depending on the reactor technology evaluated. However\, radiation hardness and survivability at h igh temperatures are two critical requirements of any technology proposed for monitoring temperature in such harsh environments. Optical sensors hav e the advantage of being immune to electromagnetic radiation and are ideal ly suited for the nuclear environment. Due to their small size\, these sen sors can easily be embedded within structures and components\, providing c rucial data regarding their performance and structural integrity. However\ , commercial silica-based optical sensors encounter radiation-induced atte nuation\, emission\, and contraction and require novel engineering techniq ues to improve their signal reliability. This talk will present the advant ages\, challenges\, and novel approaches of using optical fiber sensors in side a nuclear reactor.\n\nBiography: Dr. Nirmala Kandadai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ore gon State State University. She completed her Ph.D. at The University of T exas at Austin in 2012\, studying the interaction of high-intensity lasers with molecular gas clusters. After her Ph.D.\, she worked for a year as a postdoctoral fellow at The University of Texas at Austin\, working on imp roving the contrast of a Petawatt laser system\, and then 3 years as a Las er Scientist at the National energetics. At National Energetics\, she led her team in designing and building high-power ultrafast laser systems\, in cluding the front end of a 10 PW laser system for the European Union's Ext reme Light Infrastructure Beamlines facility (ELI-Beamlines). She was in B oise as a Research Assistant Professor in 2016 and as a tenure track Assis tant professor since 2019. She started the IEEE WIE Boise section in 2020 and was the chair of the IEEE WIE Boise section from 2020 -2022. She was a warded Idaho accomplished under 40 awards in 2022 for her work in promotin g young girls and women in STEM. She moved to Oregon State in 2022 as an A ssistant Professor. At Oregon State\, she is the director of the fiber opt ics laser and integrated research lab (FLAIR). Her current research work i ncludes laser-matter interactions\, sensors for extreme environments\, inf rared thermography\, thermal conductivity\, laser sintering\, and plasma m odeling. She is currently an IEEE senior member.\n\nCo-sponsored by: Nazni n Akter\n\nVirtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/354720 LOCATION:Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/354720 ORGANIZER:naznin@ieee.org SEQUENCE:26 SUMMARY:Sensing in Nuclear Environment using Optical Fibers URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/354720 X-ALT-DESC:Description: <br /><p>Nuclear reactors create a harsh environmen t for fuel and structural components as they operate at high temperatures and high irradiation and have corrosive components. Precise monitoring of the reactor's environment is an ever-present need for the long-term operat ion and stability of the reactor. The knowledge of the exact conditions is crucial for studying the degradation of fuel and components and improving their performance. There is a need to create novel sensing solutions to s tudy and record the real-time conditions in and out of the pile in the rea ctor to study microstructure\, chemistry\, mechanical\, and other property changes when subjected to irradiation. The temperature range of interest for the fuel and structural component community varies significantly\, dep ending on the reactor technology evaluated. However\, radiation hardness a nd survivability at high temperatures are two critical requirements of any technology proposed for monitoring temperature in such harsh environments . Optical sensors have the advantage of being immune to electromagnetic ra diation and are ideally suited for the nuclear environment. Due to their s mall size\, these sensors can easily be embedded within structures and com ponents\, providing crucial data regarding their performance and structura l integrity. However\, commercial silica-based optical sensors encounter r adiation-induced attenuation\, emission\, and contraction and require nove l engineering techniques to improve their signal reliability. This talk wi ll present the advantages\, challenges\, and novel approaches of using opt ical fiber sensors inside a nuclear reactor.</p>\n<p><strong>Biography: </ strong>Dr. Nirmala Kandadai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Oregon State State University. She completed her Ph.D. at The University of Texas at Austin in 2012\, studyi ng the interaction of high-intensity lasers with molecular gas clusters. A fter her Ph.D.\, she worked for a year as a postdoctoral fellow at The Uni versity of Texas at Austin\, working on improving the contrast of a Petawa tt laser system\, and then 3 years as a Laser Scientist at the National en ergetics. At National Energetics\, she led her team in designing and build ing high-power ultrafast laser systems\, including the front end of a 10 P W laser system for the European Union's Extreme Light Infrastructure Beaml ines facility (ELI-Beamlines). She was in Boise as a Research Assistant Pr ofessor in 2016 and as a tenure track Assistant professor since 2019. She started the IEEE WIE Boise section in 2020 and was the chair of the IEEE W IE Boise section from 2020 -2022. She was awarded Idaho accomplished under 40 awards in 2022 for her work in promoting young girls and women in STEM . She moved to Oregon State in 2022 as an Assistant Professor. At Oregon S tate\, she is the director of the fiber optics laser and integrated resear ch lab (FLAIR). Her current research work includes laser-matter interactio ns\, sensors for extreme environments\, infrared thermography\, thermal co nductivity\, laser sintering\, and plasma modeling. She is currently an IE EE senior member.</p> END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR