The management structure of the consortium is designed to facilitate and promote the research being undertaken and to ensure it is relevant to key challenges facing the UK nuclear industry.
The Director – Professor Michael Fairweather – and the Consortium Manager – Dr Lois S. Tovey – are responsible for functional management of the consortium.
The Academic Leadership Team comprises of the Director and Consortium Manager and established researchers who are all leading academics in their field with extensive records of research leadership, collaborative projects with the nuclear industry, and training of research staff. The team deals with any exclusively academic matters arising from management of the consortium.
The Management Board is made up of the Academic Leadership Team and representatives from our industry project partners. The board has responsibility for ensuring that the consortium delivers against its objectives and providing strategic leadership.
The International Advisory Group includes the Management Board and all academic investigators, as well as industrialists and government department representatives involved in complementary research activities internationally. They provide advice on the scientific programme and ensure its continued relevance.
IAG members include representatives from Atkins, AWE, Bam Nuttall, BEIS, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Catholic University of America, Cavendish Nuclear, Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness, Costain, Eden Nuclear & Environment, Environment Agency, EPSRC, Fraser Nash, IAEA, Jacobs, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, LLWR, Longenecker & Associates, National Nuclear Laboratory, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Nuvia, PNNL, RWM, Sellafield, SRNL, Thornton Tomasetti, Tuv-Sud Nuclear Technologies, Urenco, US DoE and Wood.
The Facilities and Impact cross-cutting activities are overseen by small academic committees which report into the management board.
University of Strathclyde
Dr Joanna Renshaw (PI, Senior Lecturer, University of Strathclyde) is a radiochemist and geomicrobiologist, with ~20 years’ research experience. She joined the University of Strathclyde as a Senior Lecturer in 2014. Her research focus is microbial transformations of radionuclides, radionuclide biogeochemistry and developing novel bioremediation technologies for radioactively contaminated wastes & sites; she is one of only a few people in the UK with experience and expertise in both microbiology and the chemistry of transuranic and fission product elements. Her work is highly multidisciplinary, linking microbiology, analytical & radio-chemistry, (hydro)geology and environmental engineering, and she has published ~30 journal articles. She is one of only five academics advising the EPSRC ‘Nuclear Champion’ (Grimes, Imperial) on developing nuclear research across the UK academic community and acts as an advisor to the Welsh Government on their Nuclear Task and Finish Group. In addition, she was one of three invited academics representing UK Nuclear Research community to the RCUK Energy Programme Scientific Advisory Committee. She is an external academic advisor for the Next Generation Nuclear CDT and has also acted as an expert advisor to the UK Radioactive Waste Management Directorate. Dr Renshaw was the lead for one of two themes in the multi-partner EPSRC research project ‘Biogeochemical Applications in Nuclear Decommissioning and Disposal’ (BANDD) EP/G063699/1 (£1.9M; PI Lunn). She is currently the PI for the project “Development of Novel Treatments for Carbon-based radioactive wastes” (EPSRC EP/R001138/1) Co-I and Impact lead for EPSRC consortium project TRANSCEND, and PI for the (£200k) Little Forest Legacy Site Immobilization Project, funded by the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organization (ANSTO)
University of Bristol
Area of expertise:
Actinide physics, nuclear materials and thin film deposition
Publications:
>45 publications
Achievements:
Leads a small research team of about 8 students and PDRAs within the Interface Analysis Centre at the University of Bristol, supported by the South West Nuclear Hub. Ongoing collaborations include the universities and research facilities, including Cambridge, Imperial, Bangor, OU, Manchester, the Institute of Physics ASCR (Prague), ITU (Institute for transuranic elements), ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility).
We also have active collaborations with a range of industry partners and research institutes including the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), AWE, CEA, Sellafield Ltd, JAEA, KURRI, Idaho National Laboratory.
Previously a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Fellow. Currently, >£1M funding in the nuclear materials area, across EPSRC, JAEA, NNL (also BEIS), INL, AWE (MoD)
University of Surrey & National Physical Laboratory
Area of Expertise:
Radiochemistry, uranium series systematics, analysis of radioisotopes, radioactive waste management.
Publications:
>600 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and published scientific reports.
Achievements:
£25M research funding from EC, HMIP, EA, EPSRC, NERC, MoD, NDA, STUK, Posiva, SKB, Imerys, BP, Conoco–Phillips, Rolls-Royce & Mitsubishi. Wide range of collaborations with universities and research institutes in EU and worldwide including Helmholtz (Jülich, Karlsruhe, Rossendorf), Chalmers, KTH , Helsinki, Risø, ANSTO, Poitiers, École des Mines, UPC.
Coordinated regulatory review of Nirex proposals for radioactive waste disposal beneath Sellafield, leading up to the Public Inquiry. Member of international review panels for planned repository at Olkiluoto (Finland) and remediation of former uranium mining sites in eastern Germany. Expert missions for IAEA and NEA to Ukraine (Chernobyl), Japan (Tokai), Bulgaria and Portugal. Board level experience in both the private and Public sectors, including three start-ups. New technology for soil remediation awarded patent and prize for innovation.
The University of Manchester
Area of Expertise:
Radiation processes (modelling and experiment), radiation chemistry particularly in heterogenous systems (modelling and experiment).
Publications:
~125 publications
Achievements:
Director, Dalton Cumbrian Facility
Editor-in-Chief: Cancer Nanotechnology
Editorial board member: Springer-Nature Scientific Reports
Conference chair: Miller Radiation Chemistry Conference 2019
Led development of the current paradigm for radiation transport across nanoparticle interfaces [Nature Scientific Reports, 1, 18; DOI:10.1038/srep00018 (2011)]
Showed new class of radiation chemical processes at work at nanoparticle interfaces [Small Volume: 10:16, 3338-3346; DOI: 10.1002/smll.201400110]
University of Strathclyde
Achievements
Prof Becky Lunn (MBE, FREng, FRSE, FICE) is the Royal Academy of Engineering and BAM Nuttall Research Chair in Biomineral Technologies for Ground Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. She is civil engineer specialising in containment and monitoring technologies for subsurface contamination, storage and disposal. She is internationally recognised for her highly multi-disciplinary approach, deploying techniques from across the fields of geology, microbiology, geophysics and engineering. Recent research has included: the development of new microseismic monitoring methods to image fracture flow at depth; the development of colloidal silica-based hydraulic barriers for radionuclide containment; and the application of microbially-mediated mineral precipitation for fracture sealing and ground improvement. She has held over £7M of research grants as Principal Investigator funded by EPSRC, NERC, the Royal Academy of Engineering and a wide range of industrial partners. She is an experienced Government Advisor, including a six-year membership of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management. She is the current Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Energy Enquiry: ‘Scotland’s Energy Future’ and is a member of EPSRC’s Science Advisory Team for Engineering. She was awarded the Geological Society’s Aberconway Medal in 2011 for her research with the nuclear industry. In 2015, the Saltire Society named her one of ten ‘Outstanding Women of Scotland’, for her research contribution and her support of women in STEM.
Imperial College London
Area of expertise:
Novel cements, materials for (selective) ion sorption and advanced ceramics
Publications:
>150
Achievements:
Focussed on ceramic research, notable contributions are in shaping and fracture: electrophoretic deposition, natural gel formers for gel casting of ceramics, inks for robocasting, a substantial contribution to thermal shock and the interpretation of indentation tests, and the mechanical behaviour of ultra-high temperature ceramics. He acted as academic expert for review of industry practice in design and verification of ceramic components on behalf of the European Space Agency, and has raised over £4M in grant income. In the nuclear area, he developed cements and geopolymers for nuclear waste treatment and encapsulation, layered double hydroxides for chloride and carbon removal from liquid waste streams, and nanoparticles for U assay and removal.
University of Bristol
Area of expertise:
Nuclear Materials, Uranium and reactive metals, Extreme Environment Sensors
Publications:
>150
Achievements:
Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Detection and Performance of the Actinides, and Director of South West Nuclear Hub. Scott has published >150 peer reviewed papers. He is member of the Government’s Nuclear Innovation Research Advisory Board and member of the Culham Programme Advisory Committee for the UK Fusion programme. He has a research portfolio funded by the AWE, Sellafield and EDF Energy, with complementary funding from EPSRC, STFC, NERC, the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering. He has extensive research experience in working on nuclear waste materials, working as academic link with the Sellafield Centre of Expertise in Uranium and Reactive Metals (URM) and also with Japan with Kyoto University and its Research Reactor Institute (KURRI), as well as JAEA, on fuel debris particle fallout and corium analysis.
University of Leeds
Area of expertise:
Turbulence modelling and simulation, turbulent reacting flows, turbulent multi-phase flows, numerical solution methods, RANS, LES and DNS CFD approaches.
Publications:
Peer-reviewed: book chapters (2), journals (134), symposia (201)
Achievements:
Wide range of collaborations with University colleagues within the UK, EU and worldwide, including: Chalmers University, Dalian University, Imperial College London, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, University College London, Xiamen University, and Universities of Cambridge, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and Uppsala.
Collaborations with industry, regulatory bodies and national research centres including: BGR, CanmetENERGY, CEA, Gexcon, Health & Safety Laboratory, ICHTJ, Ineris, MMI Engineering, National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, National Nuclear Laboratory, Ocas, Paul Scherrer Institute and Sellafield Ltd. PI of Sellafield Ltd-University of Leeds Sludge Centre of Expertise.
£12.9M funding from: BNFL, EC, EPSRC, FCO, Innovate UK, MoD, National Grid, NDA, NNL, Nuclear AMRC, RAEng, Sellafield Ltd. IChemE Frank Lees Medal (2010).
University of Southampton
Area of expertise:
Applied and Environmental Geochemistry and Radiochemistry, Land and Wastes Remediation
Publications:
>115 publications
Achievements:
Professor of Environmental Radioactivity, and Research Director of GAU-Radioanalytical Laboratories, University of Southampton. Over 25 years research and consultancy experience. > £3.6 million research income from various government, RCUK, EU and industry sources. Director of Internationalisation in Ocean and Earth Science at Southampton, and member of the Geohazards committee of the UNESCO/IUGS International Geoscience Programme, focused on international geoscience capacity building.
Lancaster University
Area of expertise:
Actinide chemistry, electrochemistry & corrosion, kinetic modelling
Publications:
More than 160 publications, including over 60 reports for the nuclear industry.
Achievements:
Professor Boxall holds the distinguished Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) Chair in Nuclear Engineering and is Director of the LRF International Joint Research Centre for the Safety of Nuclear Energy.
He is an electrochemist by training, and his research is focused on the actinides and their compounds. He is particularly interested in their materials and physical chemical properties and how these influence their behaviour throughout the fuel cycle – most especially, the storage, reprocessing and disposal of spent fuels and nuclear materials, areas of relevance to the Spent Fuel and Nuclear Materials themes of TRANSCEND.
He has presented to the Westminster Energy Forum on Nuclear Power (resulting in a mention in the House of Lords), and has given oral evidence to Parliament on the future of the Nuclear Industry. He leads a group of 4 PDRAs and 12 PhD students supported by current grants of more than £3.25M and has written more than 160 publications, including over 60 reports for the nuclear industry.
