PhD Studentship: Environmentally Strategic Decommissioning of Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors Led by Life Cycle Assessment

The PhD is 3.5 years long and is fully funded by Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in direct collaboration with Magnox Ltd and National Nuclear Laboratory (annual stipend set at the UKRI rate, which is £19,237 for 2024/25 and will be slightly higher for 2025/26). The PhD start date is October 2025.

This project will apply environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) and economic life cycle costing (LCC) to some of the key problems presented by decommissioning activities. The overall aim is to identify major sustainability hotspots, key opportunities for improvements, and ultimately to form a strategic research roadmap to minimise environmental impacts in the most efficient way possible. The work will focus on the UK’s AGR reactors, beginning by identifying the timelines of all key activities within the decommissioning process and producing LCA models of each step to generate a full cradle-to-grave assessment. The results will include not only carbon footprint, but a broad range of other impacts – such as acidification, eutrophication, and ecotoxicity – to ensure a holistic perspective. Once this baseline life cycle is established, hotspots will be analysed and impact reduction opportunities explored via LCA and LCC. These opportunities will be determined in collaboration with project partners; some anticipated options include the use of local resources, novel graphite compaction concepts, waste treatment media such as geopolymers, and alternative materials for the construction of infrastructure. The latter may include ‘low-carbon’ concretes (e.g. geopolymer recipes, carbon capture) and scoping opportunities for materials with the potential to be carbon-negative (e.g. cross-laminated timber). The project will involve close collaboration with Magnox Ltd, National Nuclear Laboratory, and other industry groups such as the Magnox-EDF-NDA working group on AGR decommissioning. On-site visits and two placement periods are anticipated with Magnox Ltd.

Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2.1 honours degree or a master’s (or international equivalent) in a relevant science or engineering related discipline.

Please contact Dr Laurence Stamford (laurence.stamford@manchester.ac.uk) with a CV before you apply.

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