This fully-funded four-year PhD studentship is offered in the Nuclear Futures Institute at Bangor University under the supervision of Dr. Tessa Davey with industrial support from Westinghouse Electric Company UK Ltd., and is associated with the PANDA Nuclear Doctoral Focal Award (Programme for Accelerating Nuclear Development and Applications).

Accident tolerant fuel systems are being developed to improve the safety and longevity of nuclear reactors. One promising option is a chromium-based coating applied to the fuel cladding, which can limit oxidation during a loss-of-coolant accident and extend the useful lifetime of the fuel.

We are looking for applicants eager to push this concept forward through materials design and development of new layered alloy systems for nuclear power. The successful candidate will apply state-of-the-art computational approaches, combining atomistic (density functional theory) simulations with CALPHAD phase diagram modelling to accelerate materials design and application.

In this project, you will design high-performance materials from these layered fuel systems and tackle real knowledge gaps in the composition-dependent properties of chromium alloy (Cr-X) and chromium-niobium alloy (Cr-Nb-X) systems.

Phase diagrams are a powerful and elegant way to capture this information, and through this PhD you will become one of the few people who can build and read them fluently. They make targeted materials design possible: a map to guide scientists and engineers through a landscape of property and microstructure relationships, charting how these shift across the terrain of composition and processing conditions. You will learn to navigate that landscape, and then to map it yourself.

It is expected that there will be a 3-month placement with Westinghouse during the PhD, providing a valuable opportunity to gain deeper insights into how the nuclear industry operates.

Note: This is an associated studentship. Funding for this project does not come from the PANDA nuclear doctoral focal award. Whilst associated students are included in the PANDA cohort and are able to benefit from the same training, events and visits, stipends may differ from projects directly funded by the PANDA focal award. Here  the student will receive a tax free stipend at the standard UKRI rate of £21,805 per annum.

Eligibility 

A first-class or 2:1 degree in a relevant STEM subject (e.g. Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science, or Mathematics) is preferred. Equivalent industrial experience will also be considered during the eligibility assessment.

Students are required to be able to achieve MoD Enhanced BPSS status, as a condition of ongoing enrolment and funding. Due to conditions of funding, applicants must have Home Fees status and be eligible to work in the UK nuclear industry upon graduation.