NOMATEN Winter School 2023 (NCBJ, Otwock- Świerk, Poland, November 27-30, 2023)

The third international School of the NOMATEN CoE was held from November 27 to 30, 2023, and was dedicated to the multifunctionality of materials for industrial and medical applications with focuses on the following topics: synthesis of new materials, modeling of materials deformation and radiation damage build-up, materials characterization and advanced solutions in radiopharamceuticals and medical therapies. Organized by NCBJ with the support of CEA and VTT, this event focused on materials and compounds for industrial and healthcare applications, and brought together about 75 participants at NCBJ Research centre, Poland. As with previous editions, this school was structured around 4 sessions of presentations and exchanges with some new features, supplemented by visits to the NCBJ center's facilities.

Session 1, chaired by NOMATEN, allowed us to revisit the objectives of the NOMATEN project and the center of excellence and to recall the main areas of activity of the partner organizations (CEA, VTT). This session also gave rise to two interventions by guest speakers from the CEA and VTT respectively on the study of irradiated materials using molecular dynamics and on the correlation of high-resolution digital images dedicated to the modeling of the crystalline plasticity of nuclear materials. Following this first session, the session 2, chaired by NOMATEN and the CEA, focused on nuclear issues with in particular subjects linked to radiolysis, corrosion, the behavior of HEA alloys under irradiation and their development, the development and characterization of coatings for the nuclear environment (2 CEA/DES oral contributions). This session concluded with a specific session “My thesis in 180 seconds” for doctoral students (with four CEA contributions, one from DES, and three from DRF/JOLIOT). Session 3, chaired by the Director of the NOMATEN Center with a VTT representative, dedicated more specifically to non-nuclear materials (a DES contribution), focused, among other things, on phase equilibria and solubility limits for permanent magnets. based on (Ce,Nd)FeB, the synthesis of organometallic structures by electrochemical means, multi-scale quantum chemical approaches for the production of hydrogen from methane, the DFT modeling of HEA alloys and multi-scale modeling approaches for the study of mechanical deformations of alloys with complex chemistry, modeling of Berkovich type nano-indentation tests.

Session 4, chaired by NOMATEN and the CEA, was devoted to R&D in the field of radiopharmaceuticals (with 3 DRF/JOLIOT contributions). This session was an opportunity to share presentations from external speakers from Polish organizations, notably on the development and use of multifunctional magneto-optical nano-particles to diagnose cancers and the use of metabolomics in pharmacy. During this session, the NCBJ cyclotron project called CERAD, dedicated to the production of medical radioisotopes, was presented. The CEA, for its part, addressed the problem of radiolabeling with carbon-11 for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, the development of radiochemical tools for the use of PET for HIV infections and new approaches. for “multivalent scaffolds” dedicated to anion/radio-anion bonds.

The last half-day was devoted to a presentation of the MARIA reactor and a visit to various NCBJ facilities linked to the NOMATEN CoE: the microscopic characterization laboratory with its latest generation equipment (MEB, TEM, DRX), the materials research laboratory, the renovation and extension of which was recently completed as part of the NOMATEN project, without forgetting a site visit to the premises intended to house the IBA 30 XP cyclotron by the end of 2023 (CERAD). During the closing of the school, the CEA announced the organization of the fourth “NOMATEN School”, which should be held in France in winter 2024 (November 5-7, 2024).

Participants to the 3rd NOMATEN School organised
at NCBJ in Otwock-Świerk, Poland, November 27-30, 2023