A group of University of Liverpool research students have recently returned from a field trip to National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan, where they visited and operated a research reactor and performed radiation detection experiments.
The students from the Centre for Doctoral Training PhD in GREEN (Growing skills for Reliable Economic Energy from Nuclear) joined researchers from Lancaster, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield on a visit to the THOR research reactor on the NTHU campus.
Whilst there, they used large machines to hang water gates, and then utilised fuel rods to perform nuclear fission, generate heat, and circulate a small pool for heating. Students monitored the real-time images and signals of the reactor, and confirmed that the radiation dose was maintained at the normal value.
Dr Maulik Patel, Reader in Nuclear Materials Science said: “This was an important and interesting visit to NTHU as in the UK there are no training reactors available for students to use.”
Research student William Hillman said: “I think nuclear science has a place in the future energy infrastructure, so it’s vital that we continue to research.”
During the visit to NTHU there was also chance to see the Centre for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy and learn about the emerging treatment that uses neutrons to produce energetic alpha particles, killing most cancer cells but not the surrounding tissues.
Find out more
Nuclear Science and Engineering research at The University of Liverpool is multi-disciplinary and involves close collaboration with the civil nuclear industry. The topics covered range from fundamental physics and engineering to environmental sciences and socio-economics.
If you’d like to find out more click here to visit the Nuclear Science Technology and Applied Research webpages.