As part of our FYDP/Capstone 2023 spotlights, we’re excited to introduce “Rad-BC” from the Chemical Engineering team: Abin Varghese, Amrita Kaur and Shannon McNeil!
Explain your project in one sentence
Our project applies bubble column technology to capture the radioactive aerosols generated by the dismantling process of plant components in Nuclear Power plant decommissioning
What has been the best part of your project so far?
The best part of our project so far has been conducting experiments with our industry partner, Ontario Tech University. We were able to travel to a new laboratory to experimentally validate our process model while also testing out new equipment such as plasma torches and a microwave plasma system.
What are the biggest challenges you've faced during the project?
The biggest challenge we’ve faced so far has been conducting literature review on the application of bubble column technology in a new manner on physical filtration processes, especially of fine radioactive aerosols, since mass-transfer processes have been the traditional industrial application.
What's next for your team members (ie: working full-time, looking for a job, starting a business, etc).
Following our graduation, we have one team-member working full time in the nuclear industry, one seeking a career in project-management and consulting, and the other seeking a career in process engineering in the food and beverage industry.