Sarah Vallely

Sarah studied chemistry at Cardiff University, where she obtained an MChem with a year in industry degree. During her year in industry, Sarah worked for Sellafield Limited (SL) where most of her work involved carrying out calculations using the hydrogeochemical modelling platform PHREEQC. As part of her placement, she also underwent a secondment with the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).

Sarah started her PhD at the Nuclear Futures Institute in September 2021 under the supervision of Professor Simon Middleburgh. Working in the Materials for Nuclear and Extreme Environments research group, Sarah conducts research into accident tolerant and advanced technology fuels for commercial nuclear reactors. Her work, which involves both computational modelling and laboratory experiments, is mostly focused on Cr-doped UO2,and how adding such dopant to nuclear fuel can impact fuel performance and in-reactor behaviour.