Gareth Stephens
PhD Student - Bangor University
Project Title: Complex grain boundary behaviour in ZrO2 - impact of coolant chemistry
Gareth F. Stephens completed a Masters of Physics degree in material physics at Aberystwyth University. He is now a PhD student studying the complex grain boundary behaviour of zircaloy and the impact of coolant chemistry at Bangor University’s Nuclear Futures Institute, with Dr Simon Middleburgh.
The project, which began in 2019, is funded by Jacobs and the Nuclear Energy Futures EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training. The focus of Gareth’s project is to study the mechanism of zircaloy corrosion whilst subject to a lithiated water environment. Primarily, computational simulation and analysis will be adopted to gain an understanding of possible mechanisms including oxygen, hydrogen and lithium transport through the material which will then be verified by traditional experimental methods including characterisation.