Nantes, France

ARMINES is a non-for-profit research organization founded in 1967. The relationship of ARMINES with French engineering and management schools is governed by agreements, under the supervision of the Ministries of Industry, Defense and Equipment. ARMINES operates research contracts for the Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et des Technologies Associées (SUBATECH) which is a joint research unit (UMR 6457) operated by the Ecole des Mines de Nantes, the University of Nantes and by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics (IN2P3) of the CNRS.

The mission of SUBATECH is fundamental subatomic physics and associated technologies: Focus of theresearch and teaching programs is nuclear physics, nuclear medicine, environment and radioactive wastemanagement. Its Radiochemistry group is one of the few research groups orldwide having simultaneously experience in the field of high level radioactive waste forms like glass and spent fuel, performance of engineered barriers such as clay and concrete considering as well the retention of radionuclides in the host rock of geological disposals, and many other basic and applied aspects of the behavior of radioactive substances. The research activities of the Radiochemistry Group can be roughly divided into three broad research areas:  “radioisotopes at ultra-trace concentrations”, “transport properties” and “physical chemistry of materials under irradiation”.

The ARMINES & Subatech Teams

Under the leadership of Prof. Bernd Grambow, a new Industrial Chair “Storage and Disposal of Radioactive Wastes” has been established at the Ecole des Mines de Nantes / Subatech in 2009, to address the fundamental physical and chemical problems associated with geological disposal of adioactive waste in clay formations. The chair is currently funded by ANDRA (50%), AREVA (25%), and EDF (25%). As a part of this chair, Prof. Andrey G.Kalinichev has been invited in 2010 to organize and lead a new research team specifically focusing on the computational molecular modeling of radionuclide interactions with clays and other materials related to geological disposal of radioactive waste. Close collaboration with experimentalists within the Radiochemistry Group of Subatech greatly benefits these computational molecular modelling efforts. In addition to Prof. Kalinichev, the computational modelling team currently includes 2 PhD students, and 2 visiting postdocs.

In the ShaleXenvironmenT project Prof. Kalinichev is coordinating the WP04: modelling of fluid behaviour in pores. Together with a postdoctoral researcher, he is focusing on the computational molecular modelling to quantify the environmental effects of the naturally present radionuclides in shale formations.

 

Contact

Prof. Andrey G. Kalinichev
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Groupe de Radiochimie
Laboratoire SUBATECH (UMR 6457)
Ecole des Mines de Nantes
4 rue Alfred Kastler, La Chantrerie BP 20722
44307 Nantes Cedex 3, FRANCE
Tel:    +33 2 51 85 84 80