• Question: What could be the benefit of your work?

    Asked by anon-201761 to Sophia, Sarah, Meirin, George, Emily, Andy on 6 Mar 2019. This question was also asked by anon-202058.
    • Photo: Sarah O'Sullivan

      Sarah O'Sullivan answered on 6 Mar 2019:

      We would understand more about some of the potential compounds that are in decayed nuclear fuel or in the melted fuel at nuclear accident sites, which means we can better manage those things

    • Photo: George Fulton

      George Fulton answered on 6 Mar 2019:

      Nuclear fusion can only be useful for society if we can make it as cheap as fossil fuel electricity. My work helps to make sure that nuclear fusion is safe and cheap enough so that fossil fuels might be able to be replaced in the future.

    • Photo: Emily Lewis

      Emily Lewis answered on 6 Mar 2019: last edited 6 Mar 2019 7:19 pm

      If we want to stop global warming we need to move away from coal and towards energy sources with no carbon emissions. Renewables are great but they can’t produce enough energy right now and we find it hard to store that energy. So the solution is a combination of these and nuclear energy which also does not contribute to climate change while it runs.

      Unfortunately, current nuclear power stations produce radioactive waste and aren’t as efficient as they could be. If we research new designs we could improve their safety, reduce the amount of waste they produce and make them cheaper to run, this would help us change energy sources and stop climate change!

    • Photo: Sophia Pells

      Sophia Pells answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      Hopefully my work could help lead to new radiation treatments for cancer. At the moment there are a few different radioactive atoms that are used to treat cancer through what’s called molecular radiotherapy. I’m looking at some new radioactive isotopes that haven’t been used before but could potentially be better than the ones that are used now. The main advantage of these new ones is that they can treat the cancer but they also emit gamma rays which can be photographed on a gamma camera used in hospitals. This means that you can see exactly where the radiation has gone in someone’s body, so you know if the cancer is getting enough to kill it and if any healthy parts of the body are getting dangerous doses of radiation.

    • Photo: Andy Buckley

      Andy Buckley answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      We’re going to find out how everything works, what our universe is really made of, and hopefully where it came from. Kind of a big ask, but I’m doing my best!

    • Photo: Meirin Oan Evans

      Meirin Oan Evans answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      I see 4 main benefits to the particle physics research going on at CERN.
      1. Mapping the secrets of how the universe works
      2. Pushing forward the boundaries of technology, computers and engineering
      3. Encouraging peaceful international collaboration
      4. Training the scientists of the future

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