Nuclear Forensic signatures in the Thorium Fuel Cycle

The PhD will investigate the main global sources of thoria (ThO2) and determine the key diagnostic signatures that would allow thoria to be provenanced and to determine where in the nuclear fuel cycle it originated from. Thorium has recently been gaining increasing global attention as a 'non-proliferation' alternative to uranium as a nuclear fuel material as hence there is a strategic need to bolster our forensic and materials science understanding of these materials.

This materials science and Physics PhD will utilise an array of cutting edge techniques to investigate the characteristic physiochemical and isotopic signatures of these rarely studies materials.