Carrying out advanced measurements using state-of-the-art experimental equipment and advanced methods represents a major challenge, given :

  • the intensification of extreme conditions prevailing in major nuclear instruments (such as those currently under construction: ITER and RJH),
  • the growing importance of nuclear fusion aspects (ITER, TBS/TBM),
  • the desire to increase understanding and control of complex phenomena in nuclear environments,
  • the diversity of application fields and their characteristics (fission, fusion, safety and security, clean-up and dismantling, radioactive waste management, etc.).

This area therefore targets :

  • the design of miniaturized sensors (nuclear, thermal, etc.) for on-line measurement of experimental conditions, monitoring the behavior of materials/fuels and controlling parameters in nuclear reactors,
  • the development of innovative electronic interfaces based on circuit design for sensor conditioning, signal processing to improve sensor performance (discrimination/selectivity, amplification, filtering, etc.) and resistance to the effects of radiation,
  • development of nuclear measurement techniques and their combination to meet control and characterization requirements.

These themes, developed for over 10 years by Aix Marseille Université in collaboration with CEA through the LIMMEX joint laboratory, will be intensified and extended, in particular by promoting interactions between the two fission/fusion communities and the pooling of skills within ISFIN.

LIMMEX, Laboratoire d'Instrumentation et de Mesure en Milieux EXtrêmes, is a joint laboratory without walls between Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS and CEA. It was created in May 2010 and is attached to the IM2NP UMR 7334 laboratory (Institut Matériaux Microélectronique et Nanosciences de Provence). It brings together more than 20 people conducting experimental, theoretical, analytical and/or numerical studies in inactive and irradiated media. The aim of these studies is to design, develop, implement and qualify instrumentation (sensors/detectors, electronics), measurement techniques, metrology and advanced acquisition, processing and analysis methodologies in the fields of extreme media. The laboratory has a strong and recognized position in the sphere of absorbed dose rate measurement (nuclear heating) by calorimeters and neutron flux measurement by semiconductor detectors (SiC), the subject of patents and/or publications. The laboratory is currently involved in several programs with international partners such as MIT's Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, the Jozef Stefan Institute and CNESTEN, with the aim of qualifying prototypes in reactors (MITR, JSI TRIGA, TRIGA).