Reactor Design & 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
Mustafa Bolukbasi
Mustafa completed his Applied Metallurgical and Materials Engineering education in Turkey. During this time, he worked with a range of techniques including Non-Destructive testing of aviation materials in “Turkish Technic”. After this he worked in the architectural aluminium industry as a quality engineer.
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).
Celt Griffith
Celt Griffith completed an integrated master’s degree in physics from Cardiff University in 2021, having earned the Vera Rubin award for consistent work for the university. Celt’s work is focused on researching corrosion/erosion effects of molten lead, working on BULLET at MSparc, where different samples will be tested for corrosion resistance.
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.
Archana Prasad
Archana joined the NFI in September 2023 as a PhD student in the Reactor Design and Thermal Hydraulics group. Her project is primarily focused on investigating Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) effects on the heat transfer properties of molten lead. This project in collaboration with UKAEA is to be conducted on BULLET.