PhD Studentship: Modelling of precipitation reactors in the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel
4 weeks ago
Lead Supervisor’s full name & email address
Dr Tariq Mahmud - t.mahmud@leeds.ac.uk
Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s)
Professor Kevin J Roberts - k.j.roberts@leeds.ac.uk
Project summary
Nuclear power generation is expected to rise to meet increasing UK and global energy demand, whilst maintaining net-zero targets. In this context, reprocessing of waste from nuclear reactors in order to recover and reuse uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) will play a critical role in the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) management. The proposed project focuses on the unit operation in SNF reprocessing, which involves precipitation of Pu(IV) oxalate or co-precipitation of U(IV)/Pu(III) oxalate crystals via the reactions between Pu and U nitrates and oxalic acid. The crystal morphology and size distribution influence the efficiency of downstream processing, such as filtration and calcination, and the performance of fuel. The precipitation reactions are performed in a continuous unbaffled vortex reactor agitated with a magnetic stirrer, which was initially developed by the UKAEA in the early 1950’s. A detailed understanding of the reactor hydrodynamic and mixing characteristics is needed and how it affects the precipitation process and resulting crystal properties.
This PhD project builds on our previous studies on the precipitation of Ca and Ce oxalates as simulants. It aims to address challenges associated with the development and application of digital process modelling tools to investigate the influence of reactor design and processing conditions on the crystal properties. In this project, precipitation process models, based on a population balance model, will be developed for the prediction of crystal size distribution, which will be integrated with a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software (e.g. ANSYS Fluent) for taking into account the effect of the reactor hydrodynamics and mixing. Experiments will be carried out to collect data as necessary for model development and refinement. The model can be used as an effective tool for providing an improved understanding of the underpinning science of precipitation processes and optimising the reactor design and safe operating conditions to produce crystals with a required size and shape distributions.
Candidates will have, or be due to obtain, a Master’s Degree or equivalent from a reputable university in an appropriate field of Engineering. Exceptional candidates with a First Class Bachelor’s Degree in an appropriate field will also be considered.
Subject Area
Applied Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry, Atomic Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Energy Technologies, Fluid Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Engineering Mathematics, Mathematical Modelling, Nuclear Physics
EPSRC SATURN_Nuclear_CDT studentship, offering the award of fees, together with a tax-free maintenance grant of £19,237 per year for 4 years.
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Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor's full name & email addressDr Tariq Mahmud - Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s)Professor Kevin J Roberts - Project summaryNuclear power generation is expected to rise to meet increasing UK and global energy demand, whilst maintaining net-zero targets. In this context, reprocessing of waste from nuclear reactors in order to recover and...
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Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor's full name & email addressDr Tariq Mahmud - Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s)Professor Kevin J Roberts - Project summaryNuclear power generation is expected to rise to meet increasing UK and global energy demand, whilst maintaining net-zero targets. In this context, reprocessing of waste from nuclear reactors in order to recover and...
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Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor’s full name & email address Dr Tariq Mahmud - t.mahmud@leeds.ac.uk Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s) Professor Kevin J Roberts - k.j.roberts@leeds.ac.uk Project summary Nuclear power generation is expected to rise to meet increasing UK and global energy demand, whilst maintaining net-zero targets. In this context, reprocessing of...
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Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor's full name & email addressProfessor Timothy Hunter – Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s)Dr David Harbottle – Project summaryAs the UK prepares to invest in new nuclear power plants, industry and research organisations are also looking towards developing the next generation of effluent and waste treatment processes. Ongoing...
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Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor's full name & email addressProfessor Timothy Hunter – Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s)Dr David Harbottle – Project summaryAs the UK prepares to invest in new nuclear power plants, industry and research organisations are also looking towards developing the next generation of effluent and waste treatment processes. Ongoing...
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Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor’s full name & email address Professor Timothy Hunter – t.n.hunter@leeds.ac.uk Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s) Dr David Harbottle – d.harbottle@leeds.ac.uk Project summary As the UK prepares to invest in new nuclear power plants, industry and research organisations are also looking towards developing the next generation of...
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Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor’s full name & email address Professor Timothy Hunter – t.n.hunter@leeds.ac.uk Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s) Dr David Harbottle – d.harbottle@leeds.ac.uk Project summary As the UK prepares to invest in new nuclear power plants, industry and research organisations are also looking towards developing the next generation of...
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Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor's full name & email addressDr Liuquan Yang - Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s)Dr Frederick Pessu - Project summaryMaterials challenges have always been critical for delivering low-carbon energy towards the UK's goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The molten salt reactor (MSR) has shown a renewed interest in...
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Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor’s full name & email address Dr Liuquan Yang - l.q.yang@leeds.ac.uk Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s) Dr Frederick Pessu - F.O.Pessu@leeds.ac.uk Project summary Materials challenges have always been critical for delivering low-carbon energy towards the UK’s goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The molten salt...
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Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor’s full name & email address Dr Liuquan Yang - l.q.yang@leeds.ac.uk Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s) Dr Frederick Pessu - F.O.Pessu@leeds.ac.uk Project summary Materials challenges have always been critical for delivering low-carbon energy towards the UK’s goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The molten salt...
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Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor’s full name & email address Dr Ana Heitor - a.heitor@leeds.ac.uk Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s) Professor Bill Murphy - w.murphy@leeds.ac.uk Dr Timothy Hunter - t.n.hunter@leeds.ac.uk Project summary As the UK prepares to invest in new operational nuclear power plants, industry and research organisations are also looking to...
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Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor’s full name & email address Dr Ana Heitor - a.heitor@leeds.ac.uk Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s) Professor Bill Murphy - w.murphy@leeds.ac.uk Dr Timothy Hunter - t.n.hunter@leeds.ac.uk Project summary As the UK prepares to invest in new operational nuclear power plants, industry and research organisations are also looking to...
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Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor's full name & email addressDr Ana Heitor - Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s)Professor Bill Murphy - Dr Timothy Hunter - Project summaryAs the UK prepares to invest in new operational nuclear power plants, industry and research organisations are also looking to decommission the UK's existing nuclear legacy facilities. Fuel cladding,...
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Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom University of Leeds Full timeLead Supervisor's full name & email addressDr Ana Heitor - Co-supervisor name(s) & email address(s)Professor Bill Murphy - Dr Timothy Hunter - Project summaryAs the UK prepares to invest in new operational nuclear power plants, industry and research organisations are also looking to decommission the UK's existing nuclear legacy facilities. Fuel cladding,...
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