Researcher in nuclear safeguards, methodologies and instrumentation - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The research conducted at the Department of Physics and Astronomy encompasses a wide range of physics topics, distributed over ten divisions. The department is located in the Ångström laboratory and employs nearly 400 people, 125 of whom are doctoral students. It offers a broad physics curriculum to undergraduate and graduate students, participation in nationally and internationally leading projects for researchers, and opportunities for partnership with industry and various outreach activities.

About the division Applied Nuclear Physics
Technical nuclear safeguards research is being conducted at the Division for applied nuclear physics. The focus is on the development of technical means (approaches, concepts and tools) to ensure that sensitive material is not being misused. Research is ongoing to develop and improve equipment, measurement techniques as well as analysis techniques to verify spent nuclear fuel, but also to support nuclear safeguards targeting future nuclear energy systems. The research is partly motivated by needs and interests from national/international regulators and collaborators.

Research in technical nuclear safeguards was recently included in the new competence center ANItA, an initiative comprising both academic and industry partners, aiming to contribute to a sustainable future energy production using small modular reactors. Nuclear non-proliferation and safeguards aspects are very important in this context, as the new reactor systems come with considerable challenges.

The research group also has the ambition to continue research on Generation IV nuclear energy systems, with a focus on the MYRRHA-facility in Belgium. Since 2019, a successful research project has been running, aiming at developing tools and methodologies to ensure that he irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies can be properly verified.

With regards to infrastructure of relevance to this position, the Division for applied nuclear physics is currently purchasing a neutron generator foreseen to be used for research as well as education purposes. The neutron generator will be hosted in a dedicated facility at the Ångström laboratory in Uppsala.

Duties
The research tasks may cover a number of activities, where modelling of nuclear fuel and source terms as well as emission and detection of radiation for different nuclear safeguards purposes are central parts. Development of measurement methodologies and instrumentation (detector types and configurations) for verification of irradiated nuclear fuel may be included, as well as development and use of multivariate analysis techniques for classification and regression purposes. Use of the new neutron generator to study radiation effects in different materials and detectors is planned to be included.

The duties also include teaching as well as supervision of PhD students.

Division duties can, depending on interest, include for instance responsibility of computer clusters or other infrastructure, teaching and education issues, outreach etc.

Requirements
Requirements are:

• PhD degree in physics
• Documented skills and experiences from nuclear safeguards reserach
• Skills and experiences of modelling irradiated nuclear fuel; emission, interaction and detection of radiation (such as gamma rays and neutrons).
• Experience of using proper and relevant softwares and calculation tools for the modeling described above.
• Ability to communicate research results at specialized workshops and conferences.
• Ability to speak and write clearly and concisely

Additional qualifications
The following qualifications are considered meriting:

• PhD degree specializing in nuclear physics or nuclear technology
• Experience of working with the development of nuclear safeguards approaches and/or verification tools for future nuclear energy systems, such as Generation IV systems
• Experience of working with detectors and signal processing in high count-rate environments
• Experience of using or developing multivariate analysis techniques
• Experience of programming in Python, Matlab, C/C++ and of using codes like MCNP, Serpent and Geant
• Experience of national and international collaborations
• Ability to and experience of teaching in Swedish
• Experience of contributing to common division or department duties, such as administering computer clusters

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position, 24 months. Scope of employment is 100%. Starting date as agrees, but preferably in May. Placement: Uppsala.

For further information about the position, please contact:  Sophie Grape, 018-471 5842, Sophie.grape@physics.uu.se.

Please submit your application by February 8, 2022, UFV-PA 2022/201.

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