Reactor Design & Thermal Hydraulics

Thermal Hydraulics

The Reactor Design and Thermal Hydraulics (RDTH) group was established in late 2019 with the strong support of the Sêr Cymru programme.

The group performs research in many areas of Nuclear Engineering including Reactor Physics, Thermal hydraulics, Severe accident, and Gen-IV reactors.

 We maintain two large facilities:

(i) THOR (Thermal Hydraulics Open-Access Research), which is about to be comissioned, will become a unique T/H research facility in the UK.

(ii) BULLET (Bangor University Lead Loop Erosion/Corrosion Testing), which is recently commissioned, is designed for erosion/corrosion testing of samples in flowing lead at high speeds and in stagnant lead at high temperatures.

Meet the Team

Dr. Walter Villanueva

Walter is a Reader in Nuclear Engineering.

Dr. Marat Margulis

Marat is a Lecturer in Thermal Hydraulics and Reactor Design.

Ph.D Students

Geraldyne Ule Duque

Geraldyne joined the NFI in April 2023, she has completed an undergraduate project in Reactor Physics, and a further Masters in Medical Physics at Valencia University in Spain. She is now taking on a PHD sponsored by the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).

Bright Madinka Mweetwa

Bright is a PhD student (Nuclear Engineering) in Reactor Design and Thermal Hydraulics with a focus on Small Modular Reactor physics.

Harvey Plows

Harvey obtained an integrated master’s degree in physics, with a focus on nuclear technology, at Nottingham Trent University in 2021. After this, Harvey joined Bangor University having secured funding for a PhD through the Draper's Company Scholarship and the EPSRC’s Nuclear Energy Futures CDT. His PhD work shall focus on developing instruments and experiments for the THOR facility.