Thursday 13 December 2012

Sweden: PhD student position in Uncertainties in Core Depletion Simulations for JHR (UCODE-JHR)

Deadline: As soon as Possible

Job description
The current doctoral research is proposed within the collaboration between the division of Nuclear Engineering and CEA for the Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR, a research reactor under construction in Cadarache, France). JHR is a light water-reactor material testing reactor primarly meant at testing the behavior of materials and fuels under extreme conditions (very high neutron flux, high temperatures and pressures), in order to create conditions representative of accelerated aging. Due to its unconventional design and operating conditions, dedicated modeling tools and strategies have to be developed. The proposed research programme aims at further developing and improving the deterministic modeling of the JHR. This includes the development of new computational procedures to model and predict the behavior of the JHR, as well as the evaluation of the uncertainty of the results due to possible uncertainties in input parameters used by the softwares, as well as possible uncertainties in the models.

The main goal of the Ph.D. project hereafter described is to establish a methodology to assess the influence of some of the relevant sources of uncertainties on the fuel depletion analysis for the JHR core. This kind of calculations is performed by making use of the 2-dimensional lattice deterministic transport code APOLLO2, and the 3-dimensional neutronic core simulator CRONOS2. The first code is applied to create data needed for the few-group macroscopic cross-sections that are used in CRONOS2 for solving the neutron diffusion or transport equations at the reactor core level. In this respect, the work will primarily focus on the uncertainties due to the microscopic cross-sections of the fission products, to the decay constants of the fission products, and to the nuclear data for hafnium (material used in the control rods). In addition, the impact of inherent approximations and procedures in the APOLLO2/CRONOS2 computational scheme (e.g., predictor-corrector approach used in burn-up calculations) will also be evaluated.

The doctoral project is structured in such a manner that the successful candidate will spend one year and half in Chalmers, and two years and half at CEA-Cadarache in France.

The majority of your working time is devoted to your own research studies. As a PhD student you are expected to develop your own ideas and communicate scientific results orally as well as in written form.

The employment is limited to a maximum of four years.

Qualifications

An M.Sc. degree in nuclear engineering, in engineering physics, in physics, or in mathematics is needed. Knowledge of nuclear engineering is a prerequisite for applying for this position. The candidate should have a documented record of such knowledge in forms of relevant courses earlier taken. In addition, prior experience with the development and/or application of neutronic computer codes is beneficial. Proficiency in English is requested, and knowledge of Swedish and French languages would be desirable.

The ideal candidate is creative and analytical, able to develop innovative contributions, and with excellent communication skills, both verbal and written. Moreover, abilities to cooperate as well as to work in self-standing manner, in an international environment, constitute strong merits.

Chalmers can not admit applicants with citizenship only of Iran or the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea due to the Council Regulation (EC) No 423/2007 and 329/2007.

In order to improve the gender balance at the Department, we welcome in particular applications from female candidates.

Application procedure
The application should be marked with Ref 20120295 and written in English. The application should be sent electronically and be attached as pdf-files, as below:

Application: (Please name the uploaded document in ReachMee as: APPLICATION, family name, ref. number)
- CV,
- attested copies of education certificates, including grade reports and other documents, English language test, e.g. TOEFL score,
- letters of recommendation from academic institutions and/or previous employers (optional),
A letter of application detailing your specific qualifications for the position (named: QUALIFICATIONS, family name, ref. number)
- maximum one A4 page
Publications: (named: PUBLICATION, family name, ref. number)
- relevant work such as bachelor's or master's thesis (or outline of a thesis under preparation).
Please use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form. The files may be compressed (zipped).

Candidates will be accepted until the position is filled.

For questions, please contact:

Assistant professor
Paolo Vinai, Divison of Nuclear Engineering
paolo@nephy.chalmers.se
+46 31 772 30 80

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