Prof. Sarah Finkeldei
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of California Irvine. PhD in Science, 2014; Aachen University, Germany.
In addition to her position in Nuclear Materials Chemistry, Prof. Finkeldei also holds joint appointments in the department of Material Science and Engineering and the department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. The focus of her research is on complex oxides in the context of advanced nuclear fuel as well as nuclear waste forms.
Her group's experimental research takes place at the interface between materials chemistry and nuclear chemistry to fabricate advanced nuclear fuel candidates, as well as potential nuclear waste forms. Once a successful fabrication process and promising fuel or waste form candidate are identified, they apply state-of-the-art characterization techniques to gain an in-depth understanding of the materials properties.
Sarah is in the process of enhancing and expanding a radiochemistry laboratory dedicated to materials chemistry in the nuclear context.
- Nuclear fuel cycle research
- Advanced fuel form development
- Nuclear waste form stability and corrosion behavior
- Structural uptake of radionuclides
- Advanced nuclear reactors