PhD Fellowship in Condensed Matter Theory at EDF R&D, France: « Prediction of the microstructure of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel under irradiation : towards a quantitative description of the ageing of realistic materials»

EDF R&D is offering a 3-year PhD fellowship starting as soon as possible in the « physical metallurgy » team in the « Mechanics and Materials of Components » (MMC) department at EDF R&D. The research will be carried out at EDF Lab Les Renardières near Fontainebleau, France in collaboration with the laboratory UMET at the University of Lille.

The objective of the project is to model the evolution of the microstructure of realistic RPV steels under irradiation over the typical lifespan of a nuclear reactor vessel in order to assess quantitatively the ageing of irradiated ferritic materials and estimate the risk of embrittlement as a consequence of irradiation. The PhD candidate will focus on the development of an in-house Atomistic Kinetic Monte Carlo and Object Kinetic Monte Carlo code LAKIMOCA [1,2] by

(i) accounting explicitly for heterogenities such as grain boundaries or dislocations and their bias effect on irradiation-induced defects

(ii) improving the current AKMC/OKMC model to include the effect of solutes and flux coupling present in realistic RPV steels. [3]

[1] C. Domain et al., Journal of Nuclear Materials 335, 121 (2004)

[2] R. Ngayam-Happy, C.S. Becquart, C. Domain, Journal of Nuclear Materials, 440,143 (2013)

[2] L. Messina et al., Physical Review B, 90,104203 (2014)

Requirements and Qualifications :

§  Master degree in Solid State Physics, Computational Material Science or related fields.

§  Good knowledge of C++ and Linux environment is required.

§  Previous experience in material simulation is a plus.

§  Good communicating skills in English.

Applications should include a resume and a list of attended courses together with the corresponding grades and be sent to Dr. Julien Vidal ( julien.vidal at edf.fr ), Dr. Christophe Domain ( christophe.domain at edf.fr ) and Prof. Charlotte Becquart (charlotte.becquart at univ-lille1.fr)