Chairholder Profile

Richard Holt

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Queen's University

Chair Title

NSERC/Ontario Power Generation Ltd. (OPG)/CANDU Owners Group (COG)/Nu-tech Precision Metals Inc. Industrial Research Chair in Nuclear Materials

Chair Program

Industrial Research Chairs Program

Role

Senior Chairholder since 2002

Summary

The Industrial Research Chair in Nuclear Materials was established at the initiative of the Canadian nuclear industry. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is the owner/operator of the Pickering and Darlington Nuclear Generating Stations. The CANDU Owners Group (COG) is a consortium of OPG, Bruce Power Inc. (operators of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Stations), New Brunswick Power (owner/operator of the Pt. Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station), Hydro Quebec (owner/operator of the Gentilly-2 Nuclear Generating Station) and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) (designer and builder of CANDU nuclear power stations). COG co-ordinates and administers collaborative R&D, engineering and information exchange programs for its partners.

The main thrust of the research conducted under the chair program is to supplement the R&D capabilities of AECL and Kinectrics Inc. (formerly Ontario Hydro Research), and to train new highly qualified staff to work in engineering or research and development, both to manage and extend the life of existing plants, and to develop the Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR).

The research furthers the fundamental understanding of nuclear materials and develops the applied technology required by industry in this area. This includes radiation-induced deformation of nuclear materials (especially zirconium alloys), its relationship to manufacturing variables, crystallographic texture and microstructure, and other related topics. The resulting knowledge will provide a better capability to predict in-reactor behaviour technology, which will improve the performance and longevity of reactor core components. This should lead to improved plant reliability.

Professor Holt is an expert in the area of nuclear materials, specifically radiation damage, radiation-induced deformation, properties of zirconium alloys in nuclear applications and stress measurement by diffraction techniques. For five years prior to his appointment at Queen's University, he directed AECL's fuel channel R&D program and before that led research activities at the Chalk River Laboratories, Ontario Hydro Research (now Kinectrics Inc.) and CANMET, and transferred technology to industrial users.

Partners

• CANDU Owners Group/Groupe des propriétaires CANDU
• Ontario Power Generation Inc.
• Nu-Tech Precision Metals Inc. (in-kind contribution/contribution en nature)

Contact Information

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Queen's University
15 Main Street
Kingston, Ontario
K7L 3N6

Tel.: 613-533-6831
Fax: 613-533-6610
E-mail: holt@me.queensu.ca

Web site:
 http://me.queensu.ca/people/holt