Role at ANSTO
Dr Pranesh Dayal is a materials engineer working in the Wasteform Engineering Team, a section within ANSTO Synroc. The team specialises in the research and development of candidate materials or ‘wasteforms’ to support the safe and efficient disposition of nuclear wastes with a focus on problematic nuclear waste streams. The team studies glass, glass-ceramic and ceramic materials, to immobilise radioactive wastes using ANSTO’s Synroc Technology.
Pranesh is responsible for and has expertise in materials development and the characterisation of both active and inactive wasteform materials to support ANSTO Synroc process technologies. He specialises in advanced electron microscopy techniques and leads ANSTO Synroc’s investigations into wasteform - HIP canister interactions as well as surface alteration following wasteform corrosion experiments. Pranesh also assists in the detailed characterisation of the welds of key components used in the ANSTO Synroc Demonstration Plant. He also uses scanning electron microscopy-based energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) to establish elemental partitioning to different phases of the wasteforms. In addition, Pranesh co-supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students within Wasteform Engineering Team.
Expertise
- Synroc Technology for nuclear waste immobilisation
- Light optical microscopy (LOM)
- Nanoindentation
- Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
- Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
- Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS)
- Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD)
- Focused ion beam (FIB)-based characterisation techniques