3MT semifinalist Raphaëlle David illuminates the path to a brighter future with nuclear energy

Raphaëlle David, PhD student in the Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics Department, was one of eight semifinalists in the 2024-2025 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition last week. The 3MT competition challenges graduate students to explain their research to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes, aided by only a single static PowerPoint slide. 

David participated in the competition to learn more about the diverse research efforts across campus and to challenge herself to communicate her work concisely in a non-native language. In her talk titled “For a Brighter World,” David connected her work with nuclear core design to the nightly illumination of the Eiffel Tower. 

“In France, more than 70% of our electricity is produced thanks to nuclear energy,” said David. However, the majority of those nuclear reactors, and nuclear reactors worldwide, are cooled by water. David’s research explores higher efficiency, lower cost alternatives. The best alternative designs feature hostile environments in which nuclear materials must endure extremely harsh conditions, so the key to advancing nuclear reactor design is the creation of more resistant materials. 

David concluded her presentation by advocating for the use of nuclear energy to meet the world’s ever-growing energy needs. “Everyone deserves a brighter world, so for those who are still afraid of the dark–go nuclear!”

Photo credit: Todd Brown/UW-Madison Media Solutions