New Nuclear Component Qualification Launching 2023

A thousand times faster than conventional testing, an ion beam approach to qualifying materials for use in the cores of advanced nuclear reactors is advancing through stages of approval by the industry standards organization ASTM.

Published on Feb. 27, 2026

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The Electric Power Research Institute will host an event on March 10-11 in Charlotte, North Carolina to announce a new methodology called Qualification under Ion irradiation of Core Components (QUICC), developed with leadership by the University of Michigan Engineering. QUICC uses ion beams to qualify materials for use in advanced nuclear reactor cores, which can achieve the same amount of radiation damage in a few days that would take over a decade in a test reactor, enabling faster design iterations.

Why it matters

Many have pinned hopes on advanced nuclear power to provide emissions-free electricity and power AI data centers, but the old way of ensuring materials can survive reactor cores can't keep up with the lifetime radiation doses inside advanced fission reactors and proposed fusion reactors. The QUICC methodology aims to address this challenge by providing a faster and more cost-effective way to qualify materials for use in these next-generation nuclear reactors.

The details

The QUICC methodology uses ion beams to mimic the radiation damage that would occur in a reactor core, which can achieve the same amount of damage in a few days that would take over a decade in a test reactor. This is done by using two ion beams - one to create the bulk of the displacements, and another to create helium bubbles. The material being tested is also submerged in water heated to high temperature and pressure to mimic reactor core conditions. For fusion reactor environments, a triple beam of hydrogen, helium, and heavy ions is used.

  • The QUICC methodology will be presented at a special event hosted by the Electric Power Research Institute on March 10-11, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • Gary Was, U-M professor emeritus of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences, will also present on this method at the 2026 TMS meeting on March 17 in San Diego.

The players

University of Michigan Engineering

The institution that led the development of the QUICC methodology.

Gary Was

U-M professor emeritus of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences who led the development of QUICC.

Electric Power Research Institute

The organization hosting the event to announce the QUICC methodology.

ASTM

The industry standards organization that is overseeing the approval of the QUICC methodology.

U.S. Department of Energy, Electric Power Research Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Framatome and Rolls-Royce

Key funders of the research to prove out the QUICC method.

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What they’re saying

“The QUICC methodology, applied to two very different alloys, demonstrates that the critical changes to the materials under ion irradiation mimic those under reactor irradiation. The significance is that ion irradiation can be used to predict material behavior in reactors 1000 times faster than with test reactors and at one one-thousandth the cost.”

— Gary Was, U-M professor emeritus of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences (Mirage News)

What’s next

The QUICC methodology is currently advancing through stages of approval by the industry standards organization ASTM, and the team is working with U-M Innovation Partnerships to develop license agreements to bring the technology to market.

The takeaway

The QUICC methodology represents a significant advancement in the qualification of materials for use in advanced nuclear reactors, enabling a much faster and more cost-effective process compared to traditional test reactor irradiation. This could help accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation nuclear power technologies that are critical for providing emissions-free electricity and powering energy-intensive applications like AI data centers.