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Andrea Paulillo received both the degrees in Chemical Engineering and MSc in Chemical Engineering with honours from the University of Naples “Federico II” in 2012 and 2014 respectively. During his first year of Master degree (2012-13) he spent 6 months at the “Universitat Politecnica de Valencia” within the Erasmus Programme.
His bachelor thesis, “Fluidized Bed Solar Receiver”, was a preliminary modelling of a novel concept of solar receiver based on a fluidized bed as heat storage and exchange system. During his master project he continued working on the same project with a focus on fluid dynamics within a compartmented fluidized bed (“Experimental study of compartmented fluidised bed”).
He started his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the UCL during January 2015.
Research project
Title: A Life Cycle Assessment approach as a decision tool for nuclear waste management and plant decommissioning
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the most developed and widely used environmental assessment tools for comparing alternative technologies when the location of the activity is already defined. LCA quantifies the amount of materials and energy used over the complete supply chains (i.e. life cycles) of goods and services and identifies emissions and wastes associated with the life cycles. Moreover, it helps to determine the “hot spots” in the system, i.e. those parts that have the most significant environmental impact and should be improved in the first instance, thus enabling identification of more environmentally sustainable options.
Whereas a set of performance indicators have been developed and standardised (e.g. Global Warming Potential (GWP), as an indicator of the greenhouse effect) for the environmental impact assessment of renewable energy systems and municipal waste management, the assessment of nuclear waste management and nuclear power plant decommissioning is not obvious.
This project aims to apply the LCA methodology to the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management and plant decommissioning stages. It is part of a large consortium, named DISTINCTIVE, which focuses on developing technical solutions for the management of nuclear waste. It is also supported by the NDA and NNL.
The objectives of this project are therefore two-folds:
1. Develop a high level conceptual LCA approach to define hot to assess the environmental impact performance of nuclear waste management and plant decommissioning.
2. In collaboration with the NDA and NNL and working interactively with DISTINCTIVE, develop a life cycle assessment scenario including all stages in the life cycle of decommissioning and waste management of an existing nuclear plant.
Education
MSc in Chemical Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy, 2012
BSc in Chemical Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy, 2014
