We have a multidisciplinary team made up of established researchers who are all leaders in their field, with a track-record of innovation and problem solving in the nuclear area and early career researchers who have relevant nuclear-related expertise.
Radioactive Waste Management
Michelle is a Principal Research Manager at Radioactive Waste Management Ltd and manages a team delivering a diverse portfolio of work within the GDF technical programme. Specific areas of focus are wasteform evolution and container evolution which includes ILW, HLW, SF and Nuclear Materials. Michelle is responsible for ensuring that GDF concepts, safety cases, engineering design and advice issued to waste producers is underpinned by sufficient and appropriate evidence generated through R&D activities. Michelle is also a member of the Programme Management Office for the European Joint Programme EURAD representing Waste Management Organisations from around the world and a Subject Matter Expert in the materials area of the RWM Research Support Office.
Prior to joining RWM Michelle spent time working in various roles across the NDA estate covering plant facing technical support, decommissioning engineering studies and technical strategy, specialising in thermally treated wastes.
TÜV SÜD Nuclear Technologies
Area of expertise: Spent Fuel Management
Areas of interest: Nuclear Materials and Radioactive Waste Management
Carlos has effectively been part of the NDA Spent Fuel Management team since 2014, he has been involved in the definition of the NDA strategy in this area, which was built to support the organisation long-term objectives of “implementing the most appropriate approach to safely manage the UK spent fuel inventory”.
The work comprises:
The implementation of the strategy is in part channelled through R&D work led by universities, including R&D conducted within TRANSCEND.
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Rick manages the >£5m/yr research and development portfolio that NDA maintains to support UK civil decommissioning strategy development. This portfolio also helps to drive innovation in the industry and provide the key skills that the NDA Group will need over the coming decades to carry out its mission. Rick works closely with academics, industry experts, UK Research and Innovation and the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy to ensure a coordinated and comprehensive approach to decommissioning R&D.
Amongst numerous technical journal articles and internal industrial reports, Rick also maintains a number of publicly available information and strategy documents such as the NDA 5 year R&D Plan and University Research and Development Strategy
Since moving to NDA, Rick has effectively leveraged multiple sources for funding equivalent to >£10m to directly support NDA-funded R&D into decommissioning, and regularly chairs both internal and external review panels to assess proposals for large research programmes.
In his previous roles he gained in depth knowledge and experience in high level nuclear waste processing and vitrification, working in both research and industrial environments and presenting his work at numerous international conferences.
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 Birmingham and Diamond Light Source Ltd
Area of expertise: Inorganic ion exchange materials, effluent treatment, wasteforms, synchrotron science
Publications: > 120 Achievements: Extensive collaboration network nationally and internationally including Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford, Sheffield, and Warwick in the UK, Stony Brook (US) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan). Closely works on several projects with Sellafield Ltd and the National Nuclear Laboratory around novel materials and processes for radionuclide removal from effluent. >£2.5M funding from EPSRC, NERC, NDA and >£1M worth of synchrotron X-ray and neutron beamtime (Diamond Light Source Ltd, ISIS, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source, ESRF, Daresbury, ILL). Since March 2019 jointly employed as Science Group Leader for Crystallography at Diamond and in the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham.
Imperial College London
Area of expertise:
Microstructure, mass transport properties and long-term durability of cementitious materials.
Publications:
50
Achievements:
Collaborations with University colleagues from Coventry, EPFL, Glasgow, Hokkaido, IFFSTAR, Lund, Oulu, Sheffield, Tohoku and Zhejiang. Industrial collaborators include BAM Nuttall, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, NIES, NIREX, PARI and Taiheyo. Chair of Scientific Committee and Steering Committee member of Nanocem, Executive Committee member of the Applied Petrography Group and member of RILEM TC 262-SCI.
Lancaster University
Area of expertise:
Atomistic simulation of nuclear materials
Publications:
40 publications
Selected publications:
“Influence of vibrational entropy on the concentrations of oxygen interstitial clusters and uranium vacancies in nonstoichiometric”, A. Soulié, F. Bruneval, M. C. Marinica, S. T. Murphy and J. P. Crocombette, Physical Review Materials 2, (2018) 083607.
“The defect chemistry of UO2±x from atomistic simulations”, M. W. D. Cooper, S. T. Murphy and D. A. Andersson, Journal of Nuclear Materials 504 (2018) 251-260.
“Simulating electronically driven structural changes in silicon with two-temperature molecular dynamics”, R. Darkins, P. W. Ma, S. T. Murphy and D. M. Duffy, Physical Review B 98 (2018) 024304.
“The effect of Nb on the corrosion and hydrogen pick-up of Zr alloys”, B. D. C. Bell, S. T. Murphy, R. W. Grimes and M. R. Wenman, Acta Materialia 132 (2017) 425-431.
“Opportunities for advanced ceramics and composites in the nuclear sector” W. E. Lee, M. Gilbert, S. T. Murphy, R. W. Grimes, Journal of the American Ceramic Society 96 (2013) 2005-2030.
Achievements:
Diverse range of collaborators with including Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Stanford Linear Accelerator National Laboratory, CEA Saclay, STFC Daresbury, and Tokamak Energy.
University of Leeds
Area of expertise:
Ultrasonics; particle stabilised foams and emulsions; surfactant & polymer sol. structure and adsorption; suspension rheology & settling; flocculation & stability control; ion-exchange for effluents.
Publications:
Have +47 refereed journal and conference publications and >1050 citations
https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=uczAN4EAAAAJ&hl=en
Achievements:
• Currently P-I or Co-I on ~£3 Million in active research funding from Innovate UK, EU Horizon 2020, EPSRC, BBSRC and direct industrial support.
• Winner (with Sellafield Ltd) of the IChemE Core Chem. Eng. award in 2012.
• Finalist (with Sellafield Ltd) of the IChemE Research Award in 2017
• Sellafield Ltds. ‘Sludge Centre of Expertise’ representative to interface between academia and the Sellafield operational/technical teams (from 2011).
• Co-organiser for RSC Particles@Interfaces Conference, Leeds, Sep 7 – 9, 2016.
• On Science Advisory Network (SAN) for Plant Impact Ltd. (from 2016).
• External Reviewer for Nuclear Engineering BEng/BTech Course, Lancaster University, 2016.
• Academic peer reviewer for BBSRC and panellist for EPSRC-NRF bridging grants (2018)
• Invited contributions for journal Special Issues on Nuclear Materials (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11071235) and Particles at interfaces (DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2018.00301)
• Expert industrial consultant on multiphase engineering problems with various companies.
• Help directs running of school as elected member of the School Executive Management Board.
• Lectures internationally at Xiamen University, China as part of the Summer Energy School.
• Active international university collaborations with the University of Melbourne, University of Newcastle, Australia, Xiamen University and China University of Petroleum, Beijing (CUPB) China.
University of Sheffield
Area of expertise:
Corrosion of nuclear waste materials
Publications:
Full list available at Orcid: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7488-3219
Selected recent publications:
• Mann C., Ferrand K., Liu S., Eskelsen J. R., Pierce E., Lemmens K. and Corkhill C. L. Influence of Young Cement Water on the corrosion of the International Simple Glass. Nature Materials Degradation, 3, 5 (2019)
• Kim M., Corkhill C. L. Hyatt N. C. and Heo J. Development, characterisation and dissolution behaviour of calcium-aluminoborosilicate glass wasteforms to immobilise rare earth oxides. Scientific Reports, 8, 5320 (2018)
• Heath P. G., Corkhill C. L., Stennett M. C., Hand R. J., Whales K and Hyatt N. C. Immobilisation of Prototype Fast Reactor raffinate in a barium borosilicate glass matrix. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 508, 203 (2018)
• Chong S., Peterson J. A., Riley B. J., Tabada D., Wall D., Corkhill C. L., McCloy J. S. Glass-bonded iodosodalite waste form for immobilisation of 129I. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 504, 109 (2018)
• Corkhill C. L., Crean D. E., Bailey D. J., Makepeace C., Stennett M. C., Tappero R., Grolimund D. and Hyatt N. C. Multi-scale investigation of uranium attenuation by arsenic at an abandoned mine, South Terras. Nature Materials Degradation, 1, 19 (2017)
• Corkhill C. L., Bailey D. J., Tocino F. Y., Stennett M. C., Miller J. A., Provis J. L., Travis K. P. and Hyatt N. C. Role of microstructure and surface defects on the dissolution kinetics of CeO2, a UO2 fuel analogue. Applied Materials and Interfaces, 8, 10562 (2016)
Achievements:
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 Surrey
Area of expertise:
Computational Material Science and Surface Chemistry
Publications:
>30
Achievements:
In 2014 I was awarded a Royal
Society University Research Fellowship. I have numerous collaborators within
Groups in the UK, EU and US, including: Cambridge, Reading, Liverpool,
Manchester, Gratz (Austria), Aarhus (Denmark), ILL Grenoble (France), Rutgers
(US), Argonne National Laboratory (US).
As a Royal Society Policy Associate I worked
within the International Research and Innovation Strategy Team, in BEIS, developing
the government International Research & Innovation Strategy (IRIS).
The University of Manchester
Area of expertise:
Computational chemistry of heavy elements, especially the actinides
Publications:
160 primary articles, 4 invited reviews, 1 textbook, 5 book chapters, 3 journal volumes edited
Achievements:
Research focuses on the use of ab initio and density functional quantum chemistry to study the electronic structure and reactivity of molecules and solids from all areas of the periodic table, with emphasis on the f block. Recent highlights include pioneering the use of the Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules to probe the nature of the f element–ligand bond, and extensive studies of the surface chemistry of the actinide dioxides.
http://www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk/kaltsoyannisgroup/
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.
