Company Description
Enabling fossil-free solutions that drive society forward – this is our purpose. We are seeking talented students who want to help us on our journey towards fossil-freedom. By writing a thesis at Vattenfall, you'll get a unique opportunity to contribute to our purpose.
About the Role
Thesis Description
• Vattenfall Nuclear Fuel is part of Vattenfall Power Solutions and is responsible for ensuring nuclear fuel supply and fuel management services for our nuclear power plants, with a focus on safety and sustainability. This thesis will be conducted within the Safety Analysis unit.
• Pellet-Cladding Interaction (PCI) remains a limiting factor for how flexibly fuel rods in nuclear reactors can be used. Previous strategies to reduce PCI damage risk – such as using lined fuel claddings and adjusted operating instructions – have been successful. However, current operating limits are still often based on absolute power values, which disregards the fuel rod's previous operating history that determines its conditioning state. This state directly impacts the threshold for potential PCI damage.
• The purpose of this work is to investigate this knowledge gap by using fuel behavior simulation models, specifically to analyze the conditioning limit for PCI damage. The central task is to evaluate the relationship between fuel operating history prior to a power increase and the power level leading to cladding damage. The goal is to develop an improved, condition-dependent damage criterion that can be compared with existing criteria and used to assess risks in actual reactor designs.
• This assignment is for 1 student
Requirements
Your Profile
We are looking for a student who wants to work towards fossil-freedom and is close to completing academic studies. You are a person with strong analytical skills, a genuine interest in technical modeling, and curiosity about nuclear power safety. You are self-driven, meticulous, and identify with our principles: Active, Open, Positive, and Safe.
You have experience working with complex datasets and simulations and possess the ability to effectively document and present your technical results. Above all, you are interested in contributing to Vattenfall's goals of fossil-freedom and safe nuclear power.
• Education - You are studying mechanical engineering, technical physics, energy systems, or another relevant technical field, with knowledge of numerical simulation and data analysis. It is merit-worthy if you have experience with fuel behavior in nuclear power systems and programming, for example in Python. Experience in modeling thermomechanical processes, working with fuel performance simulation tools, or knowledge of reactor physics and materials science is also valuable.
• Scope – 30 credits
• Languages – English and Swedish
Additional Information
• Assignment starts: 2026-02-01 or by agreement
• Location: Solna, Västerås, or Uppsala
• Application – one file with your CV and a copy of your grades.
• Application deadline: 2025-11-23
• Contact person and supervisor at Vattenfall: Paul Blair,
[email protected], +46702304388
Diversity and Inclusion – In Everything We Do
We are convinced that heterogeneous teams can outperform homogeneous teams. But we can only unleash and utilize the power of diversity when everyone feels included. Read more about our important work on diversity and inclusion at https://careers.vattenfall.com/se/sv/jobba-med-oss/mangfald-inkludering
About Vattenfall
We at Vattenfall have decided to enable fossil-freedom. To succeed, we must first become completely fossil-free ourselves as one of Europe's largest energy companies. But that's not enough. To contribute to a fossil-free society, we must do more than just focus on sustainable energy production.
Because we are convinced that to enable fossil-freedom, we must look at the challenge from a broader perspective than simply producing energy sustainably.
Join us on the journey towards fossil-freedom.
Since Vattenfall is part of Swedish critical infrastructure, many of our positions are security-classified. This means that, if this position is security-classified, final candidates may be subject to a special security review in accordance with the Security Protection Act.