Profile

Hi! I’m Jamie, a scientist at the University of Southampton and I work with all sorts of soil, using electricity to clean it up.

I’m from Southampton originally (it’s a lovely city!) and I’ve studied all over the UK. I’m also a hugggge Doctor Who and Star Trek fan (I’ve seen every episode at least twice – if you haven’t seen it, why not? It’s great :D) and have a weakness for cheesecake (mmmm). Ask me anything about science (or cheesecake or, my favourite subject – Star Trek!)

Nuclear power, in which we split atoms to create electricity, produces lots of nasty radioactive waste. Sometimes, this dangerous radioactive waste can leak into soil. Having soil that is dangerous is very bad (and expensive to deal with!), and if we have some soil, like a farmer’s field, when the radioactive waste is there, the farmer can’t grow any crops or animals because the waste is dangerous.

So, my job is basically answering the question “how do we clean up radioactive soil?”

The answer? Electricity. The radioactive waste that makes soil dirty can be attracted to different parts of an electrical circuit (if you’ve ever looked at a battery, there are positive (+) and negative (-) ends). We can zap a soil or a field in different ways, and depending on how we do that, we can make the waste move anywhere we want – usually out of the soil. When we do this we clean soil up, meaning the farmer can go back to growing food – or any other use you can think of!

My usual day is certainly not “usual”, as I can be out in the field (usually in the middle of winter, freezing cold!), and then doing something completely different the next! Sometimes I’m sat at my computer, sometimes I teach other people about the work that I do, and others I’m out in prodding and poking and measuring soil. Every day is different and that’s something I love about my job – no two days are the same!