IET Travel Awards 2016

Syed Bahauddin Alam

Email: sba26@cam.ac.uk
University: University of Cambridge
Research group: Computational Design Group, Department of Engineering
Conferences:
1. 2016 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2016), San Francisco
2. Physics of Reactors conference (PHYSOR), Sun Valley, Idaho, USA
Research Title: The Design of Reactor Cores for Civil Nuclear Marine Propulsion
Supervisor: Dr. Geoff Parks, Head of the Computational Design Group, Engineering Design Centre.

Biography:

I am currently a PhD candidate in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Cambridge. I am working

at the Computational Design Group of Cambridge Engineering Design Centre under Academic
Division: Energy, Fluid Mechanics and Turbomachinery at Department of Engineering. I have
completed my MPhil in Nuclear Energy from Cambridge University in September 2013 and B.Sc. in
Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
(BUET) in February 2011.

Research:

My PhD topic is "The Design of Reactor Cores for Civil Nuclear Marine Propulsion", supervised
by Dr. Geoff Parks, Head of the Computational Design Group, Cambridge Engineering Design
Centre. I am investigating the 3D neutronics, fuel performance issues and thermal-hydraulics design
and feasibility of high power density, soluble-boron-free (SBF) and long core-life small modular
reactors (SMR) using low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel for civil marine propulsion core. I am
currently working at the Rhode Island Nuclear Science Center (RINSC) in collaboration with
the Brown University (Advanced Ceramics and Nanomaterials Laboratory) and the University
of Rhode Island (Dynamic Photomechanics Laboratory) on the "Oxidation Behaviour of
Accident Tolerant Nuclear Fuel Cladding Silicon Carbide in a Pure Steam Environment in order
to select the appropriate nuclear fuel cladding material for long core-life and high power density
marine propulsion core.

Conference Attendance

I am really grateful to the support from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Travel
scholarship that supported me for a travel award towards the costs of attending the 2016 International
Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2016) held from 17-20 April 2016 in San
Francisco and the American Nuclear Society Physics of Reactors conference (PHYSOR 2016) held
from 1-5 May 2016 in Sun Valley, Idaho, USA. I was the first author of no fewer than five papers that
have been accepted for presentation at these conferences 2 at ICAPP and 3 at PHYSOR.

Awards

I have been awarded both the "Best Paper Award" and "Student Poster Award" at ICAPP 2016
by American Nuclear Society (ANS) and UC Berkeley. Furthermore, I have been awarded "Travel
Scholarship Award" by American Nuclear Society and UC Berkeley in recognition of the
"Exceptional Quality of the Paper". This news has been featured in the Cambridge Nuclear
Energy centre.

Titles of the Presented Papers

1. Syed Bahauddin Alam, Hassan Mohamed, B.A. Lindley, and G.T. Parks, 'Lattice Design
and Coolant Selection for a 333 MWth PWR Civil Marine Propulsion Core using
Checkerboard Micro-heterogeneous ThO2-UO2 Fuel' in International Congress on
Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2016), San Francisco, CA, USA, 1720
April (2016).
2. Syed Bahauddin Alam, Hassan Mohamed, B.A. Lindley, and G.T. Parks, 'Analysis and
Design of a High Power Density Marine PWR Core using Mixed D2O-H2O Coolant and
Checkerboard Micro-heterogeneous ThO2-UO2 and All-Uranium Fuel' in International
Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2016), San Francisco, CA, USA, 17
20 April (2016).
3. Syed Bahauddin Alam, B.A. Lindley, and G.T. Parks, 'Neutronic Performance
of High Power Density Marine Propulsion Cores Using UO2 and Microheterogeneous
ThO2-UO2 Duplex Fuels' in The Physics of Reactors (PHYSOR), Sun Valley, Idaho, USA,
May 1-5, (2016).
4. Syed Bahauddin Alam, B.A. Lindley, and G.T. Parks, 'Hot Assembly and Whole-Core
Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of a High Power Density Marine Core With
Neutronic/Thermal-Hydraulic Coupling' in The Physics of Reactors (PHYSOR), Sun
Valley, Idaho, USA, May 1-5, (2016).
5. Syed Bahauddin Alam, B.A. Lindley, and G.T. Parks, 'Investigation of the Novel
Improved Burnable Poisons Design for Soluble-Boron-Free Civil Nuclear Marine PWR
Core' in The Physics of Reactors (PHYSOR), Sun Valley, Idaho, USA, May 1-5, (2016).

My Benefits from Attending the Conferences:

These conferences are widely regarded as the leading international Nuclear Engineering meeting and
attending these conferences provided me with an excellent opportunity to disseminate my work to the
nuclear engineering community. My participation was beneficial for me to receive feedback on my
research from experts from around the world. I was also able to learn much about current
developments in related work being undertaken elsewhere and to discuss and explore with other
delegates the potential future directions for my own work. Most importantly, my participation in these
conferences provided me to build networking opportunities which will help me to make contact with
international researchers and discuss future possibilities for collaborative work. Furthermore,
attending these conferences provided me an ideal opportunity to present my work outside the UK.
Therefore, my participation in these conferences was enormously beneficial for me in multiple ways.
Photographs from the Conferences:

Awarded both the "Best Paper Award" and " Student Poster Award "at the 2016 International
Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2016) at San Francisco, USA.

"Travel Scholarship Award" by American Nuclear Society and UC Berkeley in recognition of the
"Exceptional Quality of the Paper" at the 2016 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power
Plants (ICAPP 2016) at San Francisco, USA.
 Presenting Poster at the Special Student Poster Session at the 2016 International Congress on
Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2016) at San Francisco, USA.

Presenting Paper at the 2016 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP
2016) at San Francisco, USA.
 Presenting Paper at the American Nuclear Society Physics of Reactors conference (PHYSOR 2016) at
Sun Valley, Idaho, USA

Conclusions:

By awarding IET Travel Award'2016, IET exhibits a contribution not only towards my PhD research
but also in nuclear engineering research. I gratefully acknowledge this award in the conferences as an
ambassador and therefore, IET is now a contributor to "Carbon Free Marine Nuclear Research".
The further success of my project will be broadcasted to "Cambridge Science Festival" and "EPSRC
Nuclear Doctoral Training Centre" and their industrial supporters. I wish to promote the global
recognition of IET by acting as an ambassador. All these will disseminate the professional image of
IET to a wider audience and boost IET's reputation and influence on inspiring researchers to join the
IET. Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards IET for rewarding me this travel
award and made my attendance to the conferences possible.

Syed Bahauddin Alam

Computational Design Group, Cambridge Engineering Design Centre
Department of Engineering
University of Cambridge
sba26@cam.ac.uk