PhD Position Flexibility in Nuclear Power

Doctorat / PhD Type de contrat : FULL_TIME Date limite de candidature : 2026-11-15T23:59:59+01:00

Can nuclear- and renewable energy play nice? Job description Both Europe and the Netherlands are committed to transitioning to a CO2-neutral economy by 2050. As part of this commitment, the Netherlands has built large-scale wind park, and a significant amount of energy comes from solar power as well. While wind and solar energy help to decarbonize power generation, it also comes at a cost. Due to the intermittent availability of wind and solar energy, grid congestion can occur (which means that the grid lacks sufficient capacity to handle demand or supply of electricity). Therefore, the grid must be carefully managed. In many countries, gas power plants help manage the grid. However, since natural gas counteracts decarbonization, the question arises: “which other technologies can help reduce grid congestion? Small modular reactors (SMR) - nuclear reactors below 300 MWe – may be able to operate flexibly to help counteract grid congestion. As such reactors have less inertia, they are better suited to load-following than large-scale nuclear power plants. Even so, their ramp rates are much lower than other technologies. Through smart design of the power cycle and the inclusion of thermal energy storage, ramp rates of SMR’s can be greatly enhanced. In this thesis project, you will design advanced power cycles with or without energy storage for SMR’s to enable enhanced load-following. Using numerical techniques, you will couple transient power cycle modelling with nuclear reactor modelling to analyse any feedback to the reactor. You will run different load-following scenarios to ascertain technologically feasible enhanced ramp rates. You will be assisted by an expert supervisory team during your PhD. As the Dutch Nuclear industry is growing rapidly, and the Dutch Government has announced a significant expansion of nuclear energy, your results may actively contribute to shaping the Dutch nuclear landscape. Your Working Environment You will join the Process & Energy (P&E) department at TU Delft’s Mechanical Engineering faculty.Our department works along the themes of Energy, Flow and Processes. You will work together with top researchers highly skilled in thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics. Moreover, we collaborate with researchers from the Reactor Institute Delft. You will have opportunities for professional development through both technical and non-technical courses. We expect that as part of your PhD you will take the lead on interacting and collaborating with other researchers at TU Delft, with research groups at other universities, and with industry and other stakeholders. Job requirements We are looking for a candidate with 1) ample experience in thermodynamic system modelling, in particular transient modelling; for example, heat pumps or power cycles. Any interest in nuclear is a plus. Furthermore, we expect that you have 2) A MSc.…