Academic supervisors: Dr. C. Corkhill, Prof. J. Provis and Prof. N. Hyatt

Industrial supervisor: Steve Williams, Radioactive Waste Management Limited

PhD Research Project available as part of the European CEBAMA consortium, to start in October 2015.

We are seeking an enthusiastic, motivated individual who wishes to learn about radioactive waste management in the UK and Europe with a desire to help influence Government policy on nuclear waste disposal. We are offering an opportunity for a 3.5 year, fully-funded PhD at the University of Sheffield, within the world-leading Immobilisation Science Laboratory in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. This project is joint-sponsored by the European Union and the Government body responsible for managing the storage and disposal of the UK's radioactive waste legacy, Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM), and will be part of the new European CEBAMA (CEment BAsed MAterials, properties and barrier functions) consortium.

This project aims to understand the interactions, at the mineralogical scale, between groundwater and a variety of cement materials used in the geological disposal of nuclear waste. During the project you will learn about nuclear waste disposal and decommissioning, and will perform cement mineral synthesis and characterisation, geochemical and aqueous analyses, and microstructure analyses using state-of-the-art facilities at the University of Sheffield and worldwide (e.g. National Synchrotron Light Source, New York). You will work in the Immobilisation Science Laboratory at Sheffield, a world-leaching research centre in nuclear waste research, alongside 40 other PhD students in a brand new £2M suite of dedicated nuclear waste laboratory facilities. There is also opportunity for a short placement within one of the other European institutions in the consortium or the industrial sponsor.

This project would suit a candidate with a 1st or 2:1 Bachelor or Masters degree in any of the following: geochemistry, geology, environmental science, chemistry, materials science/engineering, chemical engineering or related subjects. To be eligible for a studentship, you must either be a U.K. citizen or a European Union national.