Technical University of Munich visits McMaster to kick-off nuclear research collaborations

McMaster University and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are building on the Strategic Partnership Agreement they signed in November 2021, exploring opportunities for collaboration in nuclear research and education at both institutions.

Earlier this month, a team from the TUM Center for Nuclear Safety and Innovation visited McMaster University to kick-off research collaborations and tour some of Hamilton’s nuclear facilities.

The group identified several key areas for collaboration, including reactor physics and thermalhydraulics research, boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), and medical isotope production.

“This is the next step in unleashing the tremendous potential and synergies of our incredible people working together,” says Dave Tucker, McMaster’s assistant vice-president, research (nuclear).

A highlight of the visit, TUM and McMaster worked together on McMaster’s hydraulic test loop. Nuclear Operations & Facilities’ Simon Day, Ross Harper, and Frank Labonte are key contributors in this project, which perfectly compliments facilities at TUM.

Dr. Tobias Chemnitz, an instrument scientist at the TUM Medical Irradiation Facility, met with McMaster associate professor in the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Dr. Saman Sadeghi, to discuss BNCT – a radiotherapeutic technique used to treat brain tumours.

Chemistry & Chemical Biology Professor David Emslie and Nuclear Operations & Facilities’ Andrea Armstrong and Matt Moran met with Dr. Sadeghi and Dr. Chemnitz to explore the potential of collaborating on TUM’s fluorine-based process for extracting Mo-99 – a medical isotope used in diagnostic imaging – from uranium targets.

Throughout the week, McMaster and TUM students attended workshops and seminars. Dr. Christian Reiter, Head of Reactor Physics at TUM, led a seminar about Germany’s FRM II reactor as part of McMaster’s Engineering Physics Seminar Series. From McMaster, engineering physics professors Dr. Dave Novog and Dr. Adriaan Buijs led the McMaster team in a workshop with TUM colleagues on reactor physics and thermalhydraulics.

TUM toured the McMaster Nuclear Reactor and the McMaster University Cyclotron Facility – both of which are used in medical isotope research and production. The group also visited Stern Laboratories in Hamilton – a Canadian-owned private corporation that conducts reliability and safety experiments for nuclear reactor and fuel vendors.

“This visit was an amazing opportunity to begin planning some exciting projects with TUM’s nuclear safety and innovation team,” says Director of McMaster’s Nuclear Operations & Facilities, Chris Heysel. “We are looking forward to working with TUM on a diverse suite of projects; everything from studying thermal hydraulic properties of next generation green energy technologies to characterizing nanomaterials using anti-matter.”