Michael Ojovan

Michael I. Ojovan is a Moldovian-UK physical chemist. His works deals with research on viscosity, viscosity models, glasses and radioactive waste treatment. He has been professor of Imperial College London, UK, nuclear engineer of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), associate reader at the University of Sheffield, UK, leading scientist of Lomonosov Moscow State University and Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry (IGEM) of Russian Academy of Sciences.

Professional activities

• Assistant professor, School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield, UK. since 2002.^[1]
• Professor, Department of Materials, Imperial College London, London, UK, 2011-2024 ^[2]
• Guest professor, Wuhan University of Technology, China, since 2023
• Visiting professor, Tohoku University Advanced Institute for Materials Research (2024)
• Nuclear engineer, Department of Nuclear Energy, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria. 2011- 2018
• Leading scientist, Radiochemistry Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia,^[3]
• Leading scientist at IGEM RAN, Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Russian Academy of Sciences

International activity

• Founder and scientific secretary of International Network on predisposal management of radioactive waste – the International Predisposal Network: IPN PUBLIC 2016 - 2018.^[4]
• Scientific Secretary of International Project on Irradiated Graphite Processing GRAPA 2015 - 2018.^[5]
• Processing of Irradiated Graphite to Meet Acceptance Criteria for Waste Disposal - IAEA ^[6]
• Scientific Secretary of IAEA Benchmarking System for Operational Waste from WWER Reactors BMS since 2014- 2018.^[7]
• Director of:
  • Joint ICTP-IAEA Radioactive waste management – solutions for countries without nuclear power programme (2015);^[8]
  • Radiation effects in nuclear waste forms and their consequences for storage and disposal (2016);
  • Joint ICTP-IAEA Fundamentals of Vitrification and Vitreous Materials for Nuclear Waste Immobilization (2017),
  • Joint ICTP-IAEA International School on Nuclear Waste Actinide Immobilization (2018),  ^[9]
  • Joint ICTP-IAEA International School on Nuclear Waste Vitrification (2019), ^[10]
  • International School on Nuclear Waste Cementation (2020),^[11]
  • Joint ICTP-IAEA International School on Radioactive Waste Package Performance Testing (2021),^[12]
  • Joint ICTP-IAEA International School on the Physical Basis for Radionuclide Migration (Storage, disposal and contaminated sites) (2022).^[13]
  • Joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on Degradation Modelling of Disposed Radioactive Wasteforms (2023).^[14]
  • Joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on Modelling for Encapsulated Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) and High Level Waste (HLW) During Long-Term Storage (2024).^[15]  
• Technical Expert of International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. Since 1993.

In media

• Taking a Closer Look at Vitrification: How the IAEA Helps Countries Utilise Advanced Immobilisation Technologies - The IAEA supports Member States that embark on vitrification by providing best practices, expertise and solutions drawn from the Agency’s accumulated experience. ^[16]
• IAEA Helps Member States Do More Cost Effective Management of Decommissioning Wastes.^[17]
• CRP Success Story: T21026 Treatment of Irradiated Graphite to Meet Acceptance Criteria for Waste Disposal (2010-2014).^[18]

Scientific and technological achievements

• Discovery of Fractal structure of emulsions (J. Exp. Theor. Phys., 77 (1993) 939); Fractal structure of clay soil pores (At. Energy, 74 (1993) 256);
• Developed of methodology to reveal structural changes in amorphous materials at glass-liquid transition. J. Phys. Chem. B, 124 (15), 3186-3194 (2020);
• Discovery of Fluctuations of glass leaching rates in field tests of nuclear glassy wasteforms (Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., 412 (1996) 265).
• Universal equation of viscosity of melts and glasses (J. Phys.: Cond. Matter 19 (2007) 415107); Equation for glass transition temperature (J. Phys.: Cond. Matter 18 (2006) 11507); Thermal expansion coefficient near the glass-liquid transition (J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 103 (2006) 819);
• Discovery and explanation of fluidization of glasses under e-beam irradiation (J. Nucl. Mater., 396 (2010) 264-271);
• Percolation thresholds in binary and poly-dispersed systems (J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 75 (1992) 696);
• Conditions of formation, main parameters and decay probability of Rydberg matter (J. Exp.Theor. Phys. 75 (1992) 602).
• Surface self-diffusion instability of charged solids (Phys. Chem. Mech. Surf. 3 (1985) 3529);
• Ion exchange rate of glasses in aqueous systems and its pH dependence (J. Nucl. Mater. 358 (2006) 57);
• Technology of Metal matrix immobilisation for sealed radioactive sources. Used in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine. At. Energ., 74 (1993) 531; IAEA-NW-T-1.8 (2014).
• Development of vitrification technology using glass composite materials. Used in Russia and France. Radiochim. Acta, 34 (1992) 97.
• Thermochemical decontamination with powder metal fuels. Used in Russia. At. Energ., 84 (1998) 519.
• Self sustaining vitrification with powder metal fuels. Used in Russia. Glass Technology, 44 (2003) 218.
• Field incineration of biological waste with powder metal fuels. Used in Russia, Czech Republic, Austria. J. Process Mech. Eng., 218E (2004) 261.
• Condensed Rydberg matter - Can there be liquids or solids consisting solely of excited atoms? Paradoxically, matter of this kind has been produced. Although metastable, this state is macroscopically longlived.

Membership

He is chief editor of the journal Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations. Ojovan has published 16 monographs including the “Handbook of Advanced Radioactive Waste Conditioning Technologies” and three editions of “An Introduction to Nuclear Waste Immobilisation” by Elsevier.

Ojovan founded and led the IAEA International Predisposal Network (IPN) and the IAEA International Project on Irradiated Graphite Processing (GRAPA).

Ojovan is known for the connectivity-percolation theory (CPT) of glass transition, Douglas-Doremus-Ojovan (DDO) model of viscosity of glasses and melts, theoretical bases of condensed Rydberg matter (RM), metallic and glass-composite materials (GCM) for nuclear waste immobilisation, and self-sinking capsules to investigate Earth’ deep interior.

Works and proceedings

• Michael I Ojovan, Neil C. Hyatt. Materials for Nuclear waste immobilization ^[19]
• Publication list at Google Scholar^[20]

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