We are a multidisciplinary team of over 20 experts drawn from 12 leading UK universities in the field of nuclear fission.
Ross Springell, University of Bristol Dr Ross Springell is a lecturer in actinide physics and nuclear materials at the University of Bristol. Ross 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).His research group specialises in development and characterisation of novel electrodes and electrochemical systems. He is particularly interested in the development of micro- and nanoelectrode system for analytical and sensing applications. 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)
Ian Farnan, University of Cambridge Before coming to Cambridge Ian held research positions with the CNRS and at Stanford University. Currently, he is Chair of the Cambridge Centre for Nuclear Energy, Cambridge Director of the Imperial Cambridge Open (ICO) EPSRC CDT in Nuclear Energy and a founding member of the inter-departmental Cambridge MPhil in Nuclear Energy. His research focuses on an atomistic understanding of radiation damage and aqueous corrosion processes in nuclear materials, including nuclear waste forms and their natural analogues, fuels, clads. He currently leads several EPSRC funded Research consortia in these areas. He has held visiting professor positions at Stanford University, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and the European Commission Joint Research Centre, Karlsruhe.
Andy Mount, The University of Edinburgh Andy Mount is Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. His research group specialises in development and characterisation of novel electrodes and electrochemical systems. He is particularly interested in the development of micro- and nanoelectrode system for analytical and sensing applications. His research group specialises in development and characterisation of novel electrodes and electrochemical systems. He is particularly interested in the development of micro- and nanoelectrode system for analytical and sensing applications.
Clint Sharrad, The University of Manchester I have developed my research in my time at the University of Manchester from studying fundamental chemical behavior of actinides and other radioactive elements in various media when I initially started at the Centre for Radiochemistry Research (School of Chemistry) to exploring such behavior but in more applied nuclear systems. The key application of focus was nuclear separations for the recycling of spent nuclear fuel by solvent extraction and pyroprocessing. My transition to the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science as a lecturer in 2011 has allowed the continuation of this progression by placing greater emphasis of my R&D efforts on process requirements. This has resulted in an expansion my interests in nuclear separations to also include decommissioning related activities such as materials contamination/decontamination, waste management and effluent treatment, and has linked into areas such as nuclear reactors and fuels, nuclear graphite treatment, radiation science, on-line monitoring methods and robotics. I have not only established collaborations across disciplines but also internationally with engagements across various consortia, directly supported joint projects and student research placements with partners in the USA, Europe, South Korea and Australia.
Colin Boxall, Lancaster University Professor Colin Boxall holds The Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) Chair in Nuclear Decommissioning & Engineering at Lancaster University and is Head of the LRF Centre for the Safety of Nuclear Energy. He has research interests in the physical and materials chemistry of the actinides throughout the nuclear industrial fuel cycle and has written more than 180 publications including more than 60 reports for the nuclear industry, including the National Nuclear Laboratory, Sellafield and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. He collaborates nationally and internationally, his research group (4 PDRAs, 12 PhDs) being part of the EPSRC TRANSCEND consortium (TRANsformative SCience & Engineering for Nuclear Decommissioning), the GREEN (Growing skills for Reliable Economic Energy from Nuclear) Centre for Doctoral Training and the EU H2020 GENIORS (GEN IV Integrated Oxide fuels Recycling Strategies) Consortium. He has presented to the Westminster Energy Forum on the Sustainability of 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.
Bruce Hanson, University of Leeds Professor Bruce Hanson is the University of Leeds’s Leadership Chair in Nuclear Process Engineering and an Honorary Professor of Nuclear Engineering at University College London. He is Director of Nuclear.Leeds, which has over 30 affiliated Academics and over 40 PDRAs and PhDs researchers as members. Prof. Hanson is a Co-Director of the Nuclear Fission Next Generation Nuclear CDT and at Leeds is the programme director for the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering undergraduate course. Previous to his appointment, he spent 25+ years in the nuclear and chemical industries, across a range of functions from plant operation to research, specialising in actinide separations and treatment of irradiated nuclear fuel. Most recently, he was the Technical Authority for Spent Fuel and Nuclear Materials at the National Nuclear Laboratory, leading internal R&D programmes in this area, as well as those on reactors and fuel development. He is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the NNL, as well as a member of the UK National Nuclear Users Facility Steering Committee.
Robin Grimes, Imperial College London Robin Grimes is Professor of Materials Physics at Imperial College and was Founding Director of the Centre for Nuclear Engineering. In his research, he uses computer simulation techniques to predict the behaviour of materials for energy applications including nuclear fission and fusion, fuel cells, batteries and solar cells. Robin is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Robin is the current UK Ministry of Defence, Chief Scientific Adviser (Nuclear) and thus principal adviser on nuclear science and technology matters. From 2013 to 2018 he was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Amongst current duties he is co-chair of the Arak Working Group, the reactor modernisation project under the JCPOA and chair of the Arak Technical Engagement Group.
Aliaksandr Baidak, The University of Manchester. Aliaksandr is a Dalton Research Fellow from the University of Manchester, affiliated with the School of Chemistry and the Dalton Cumbrian Facility. He has over 14 years of research experience in the fields of radiation chemistry, time-resolved spectroscopy and organic photovoltaics (OPV). His current research interests include: (a) radiation-induced chemistry relevant to nuclear industry, e.g. radiolysis of organic ion exchange resins and solvent extraction systems; (b) radiolysis of water and aqueous solutions and associated corrosion processes at high temperature and high pressure; (c) radiation as a maker: synthesis and modification of polymers, and 2D materials using ionising radiation. Aliaksandr’s work is funded from various sources including EPSRC, NNL, Wood Plc and Rolls Royce; his current research funding totalling at £0.6M. He currently supervises two PhD students and one PDRA. Aliaksandr Baidak provides technical expertise to the International Atomic Agency (IAEA) in the field of radiation processing of nanomaterials and is a member of the Coordinated Research Project “Enhancing beneficial effects of radiation processing in nanotechnology”, 2019-2023.
Eric Fraga, University College London Eric Fraga is Professor of Process Systems Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University College London (UCL) and a member of the Centre for Process Systems Engineering (CPSE). Professor Fraga’s research lies at the interfaces between industrial engineering, mathematics and computer science. His research broadly falls into two categories: the development of new computational methodologies for computational systems engineering and the design and implementation of computer interfaces for aiding engineers in the use of advanced computational tools in design. Professor Fraga has on-going collaborations with partners across the world. These collaborations include the design of fundamental optimisation algorithms for complex problems that arise in industrial, chemical, and nuclear engineering, integrated energy systems, water processing for shale gas extraction, the design and optimisation of bio-fuel production processes (primarily for ethanol production) and waste processing in biofuel production. Professor Fraga has published over 160 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and has obtained funding for his research from the UK’s EPSRC, the European Commission, NATO and the British Council as well as from industry.
Claire Corkhill, University of Sheffield Dr Claire Corkhill is an EPSRC Early Career Research fellow at the University of Sheffield. Claire’s expertise lies in the corrosion of nuclear waste materials.
Laurence Harwood, University of Reading Laurence Harwood is Professor of Organic Chemistry and Director of the Chemical Analysis Facility at the University of Reading. His research interests lie in organic synthesis of metal-selective (specifically minor actinide) ligands
Chris Smith, University of Reading Chris Smith is a lecturer in organic chemistry at the University of Reading. His research interests lie in Elemental Separations, Continuous Flow, Organic Chemistry
Samuel Murphy, Lancaster University Samuel Murphy is a 50th Anniversary Lecturer in Nuclear Materials. Prior to joining Lancaster Dr. Murphy was a PDRA at University College London and Imperial College London where he used atomistic simulation techniques to study defects and defect processes in materials. In 2010 he worked at l’Commissariat à l’énergie atomique (CEA) in Saclay just South of Paris. He completed his PhD in Materials Physics at Imperial College London in 2009 in the group of Prof. Robin Grimes.
His research focuses on the use of atomistic simulation to study defect processes in nuclear materials. He examines processes such as the accommodation of fission products in nuclear fuels and the escape of tritium from lithium ceramics for future fusion reactors. He is also interested in defect creation by bombardment with high energy particles, such as that experienced in a nuclear reactor.
In his research Dr. Murphy employs state-of-the-art atomistic simulation techniques, including molecular dynamics and density functional theory (DFT). He is also a developer of the two temperature molecular dynamics (2T-MD) technique that enables the incorporation of electronic effects into the simulation of radiation damage of materials by very high energy ions.
Karl Whittle, University of Liverpool Karl Whittle is Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Liverpool. He holds a PhD in Inorganic/Materials Chemistry from the Open University. His research interests lie in the development of advanced nuclear materials and the effects of radiation damage on materials properties.
Maulik Patel, University of Liverpool Maulik Patel in Assistant Professor in Nuclear Materials Science at the University of Liverpool. His research interests lie in ceramics and radiation effects in materials.
Panagiota Angeli Panagiota is Professor of Chemical Engineering at UCL. She has a PhD in Multiphase flow from Imperial College London. Prof Angeli’s research interests are in the area of two-phase flows for energy and process engineering applications. They span from studies of pipeline flows of oil-water mixtures relevant to oil production and transportation, to intensified liquid-liquid extractions in small channels relevant to reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and to two-phase micro-reactors for fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals production. The aim of the research is to gain fundamental understanding of flow phenomena in two-phase systems and their interactions with mass transfer, and to formulate models for predicting their behaviour. This is achieved through a combination of detailed and sophisticated experimental measurements with analytical and numerical modelling.
Steve Faulkner, University of Oxford Steve is a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford. His research interests lie in understanding how coordination chemistry can be used to control the chemical and spectroscopic behaviour of the f-elements.
Neil Hyatt, University of Sheffield Neil is Professor of Radioactive Waste Management at the University of Sheffield. His research interests include radioactive waste management and disposal and advanced nuclear materials.