British scientists are designing a revolutionary cement that could withstand the impact of intense radiation for thousands of years. The project could prove vital in dealing with the challenges of Britain’s proposed expansion of its nuclear industry. “To work out how materials – in this case cement – are going to behave for tens of thousands of years is quite mind-boggling, but that is exactly what we are now doing,” said the project’s leader, Claire Corkhill of Sheffield University. She is due to present details of the project at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington on Sunday. The key to her team’s project is the UK’s Diamond Light Source, near Oxford. The facility accelerates electrons almost to the speed of light, so that they give off a light 10 billion times brighter than the sun. These bright beams are then directed off into laboratories, where they are used to study the properties of many different types of material: ice, viruses, cancer drugs – and cement.
Observer 13th Feb 2016 read more »
BBC 13th Feb 2016 read more »