Richard Clements
Phone: +61 (0) 2 9717 7233
Email: rcs@ansto.gov.au
Richard Clements is a joint PhD student between the Bragg Institute and the solid state chemistry group at the School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney. He is supervised by Dr Anton Stampfl and Dr Chris Ling at the Bragg Institute, and Dr Brendan Kennedy at the University of Sydney.
Richard's project is focussed on the investigation of rare earth zirconates as potential inert matrix fuels and waste forms. He has undertaken a synthesis of the RE2Zr2O7 series in bulk phase and is attempting single crystal growth of the series using the floating zone furnace method. The powders and crystals will be characterised in an attempt to model their structural and electronic properties using synchrotron X-ray spectroscopic techniques and neutron diffraction. The resistance of the materials to the severe chemical and physical environments that may be encountered in-pile or in the reactor core is also being studied.
Richard completed his BSc (Hons) in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney in 2006. Richard's honours project involved the study of crystal nucleation in binary eutectic alloys using a semi-empirical phase field model.