Dr Lewis Blackburn
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Lecturer in Nuclear Materials
Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow
Royce Technology Platform Lead
Full contact details
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
-
I completed my PhD at the University of Sheffield in 2021 within the Immobilisation Science Laboratory (ISL), after which I was awarded an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship. I then undertook a PDRA position funded by Nuclear Waste Services to develop advanced zirconolite and pyrochlore-structured ceramics for the immobilisation of separated actinides. I was subsequently awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship to develop Pu ceramic capability. My research interests involve long-term evolution of candidate ceramic wasteforms for the immobilisation of separated Pu, including radiation damage processes, chemical durability and process optimisation. In 2023 I was appointed to Lecturer in Nuclear Materials.
- Research interests
-
Implementing a safe disposal strategy for the UK's radioactive waste inventory is a substantial technical challenge and requires a robust scientific underpinning. A feasible approach to placing this material beyond reach is conversion into a passively safe wasteform material, such that it can be placed within a geological disposal facility (GDF). The aim of our research is to understand the properties of radioactive wasteforms, in particular ceramic phases capable of acting as dedicated wasteform for separated Pu and other actinides.
Key research interests:
- Materials for radioactive waste immobilisation
- Development of advanced titanate, zirconate and high-entropy oxide ceramic wasteform materials for the immobilisation of radioactive wastes
- Solid state chemistry of actinides (Pu, U, Th, Am) and related surrogates (Ce, Ln)
- Advanced processing methods for waste consolidation and disposal
- Application of X-ray spectroscopy in support of nuclear waste management
- Radiation damage effects in candidate Pu wasteforms
- Publications
-
Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
This person does not have any publications available.
All publications
Journal articles
- A disposal-MOX concept for plutonium disposition. Materials Advances. View this article in WRRO
- A comparative study of the high-pressure structural stability of zirconolite materials for nuclear waste immobilisation. Results in Physics, 61, 107704-107704.
- Synergistic immobilisation of CeO2 as a surrogate for PuO2 and metallic FeCrAl alloy via zirconolite wasteform. Ceramics International.
- Influence of the dual charge compensator on solid solution of the air-sintered Ca1-xCexZrTi2-2xFexCrxO7 zirconolite. Ceramics International, 49(19), 31517-31523.
- Zirconolite matrices for the immobilization of REE–actinide wastes. Ceramics, 6(3), 1573-1622.
- Underpinning the use of indium as a neutron absorbing additive in zirconolite by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Scientific Reports, 13(1).
- Influence of accessory phases and surrogate type on accelerated leaching of zirconolite wasteforms. npj Materials Degradation, 5. View this article in WRRO
- Synthesis, structure and characterisation of the thorium zirconolite CaZr1‐xThxTi2O7 system. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 104(7), 2937-2951. View this article in WRRO
- A Review of Zirconolite Solid Solution Regimes for Plutonium and Candidate Neutron Absorbing Additives. Ceramics, 6(3), 1330-1347.
- A high throughput computational investigation of the solid solution mechanisms of actinides and lanthanides in zirconolite. RSC Advances, 11(41), 25179-25186.
- A disposal-MOX concept for plutonium disposition. Materials Advances. View this article in WRRO
- Teaching activities
-
Module: MAT3910