Fellows

Adrian Bull was named as an NNL Fellow in Stakeholder Engagement in October 2020, making him the first NNL Fellow to be appointed in a social science. His work in external relations for NNL and other organisations means that he is closely involved in communications and promoting the profile and reputation of the nuclear industry and of NNL across the UK and internationally. As such, Adrian has a long track record of engagement with a wide range of stakeholders including politicians, Government officials, media, customers, industry organisations and universities. Prior to taking up his NNL role in 2012, Adrian was Head of Media and Stakeholder Relations for Westinghouse in Europe, and before that worked in the Energy Policy Unit at BNFL – his last role there in a varied 23 year stint with the company.

Adrian has worked on a range of public consultations on energy matters and has given evidence to several UK Government Committees on the subject. He has also been closely involved with the work of the UK’s Nuclear Industry Council on communication and public understanding of nuclear energy.

Adrian chairs the Communications Advisory Group of FORATOM and is Vice-Chair of the equivalent body at the World Nuclear Association. He is a Board Member of both Marketing Cheshire and the Science Media Centre and sits on a number of other committees for bodies such as the Confederation of British Industry, The University of Manchester and the UK Nuclear Institute. In 2019 he was invited by the International Atomic Energy Agency to be one of three “experts” on a dedicated mission to Sri Lanka to share insights with nuclear and energy industry leaders, and others, related to all aspects of engagement with local stakeholder groups as the country prepares to plan its first nuclear power plants.

Adrian is a Fellow of the UK Energy Institute and was awarded an MBE in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List for his work on the development of public understanding of nuclear.

Steve Graham was appointed as NNL Fellow for Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics in October 2020. Steve has over 40 years’ experience in the application of heat transfer and fluid flow modelling in the nuclear industry with a track record of innovative, award-winning work in this field. As Principal Scientist for NNL’s heat transfer and fluid flow modelling capability, he is responsible for technical leadership of the area shaping technical development, peer review, mentoring of staff and creating and leading effective technical teams.

Steve has a specific interest in the quality of science and quantifying scientific uncertainty through research he is involved with in the development of computer model validation metrics†. He is passionate about providing training and mentoring for the next generation of scientists and engineers in civil nuclear power, which enabled him to create a team and work collaboratively with the University of Liverpool to develop and deliver the academically and ILM accredited Science and Technology Leadership Programme.

In the UK Steve is involved in shaping the direction of research through interactions in various Special Interest Groups associated with nuclear thermal hydraulics. He is currently the Thermal Hydraulics Technical Lead in BEIS AMM Phase 2 Project FAITH, which is involved with the design of an experiment to validate Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations for reactor fuel assemblies.

Internationally Steve is the UK lead for the UK/USA Advanced Modelling and Simulation area as part of the BEIS/DoE Bilateral Nuclear Energy Research Action Plan. He has also been part of a team providing best practice guidance for model prediction of spent fuel cooling for IAEA. He is currently working with NNL, and US and colleagues at LLNL, to provide innovative design of an experiment that needs to operate in a controlled low temperature environment.

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† Ksenija Dvurecenska, Steve Graham, Edwardo Patelli, Eann A Patterson A probabilistic metric for the validation of computational models, R. Soc. open sci. 5, 180687, October 2018

Background

Anthony is the Chief Technologist for the Waste Management and Decommissioning Directorate of the National Nuclear Laboratory, with responsibility for research and technology development.  He has over 25 years of experience in the nuclear industry , leading strategic, engineering and R&D programmes.  He has worked extensively on national and international projects, collaborating with US and European partners on nuclear waste management and decommissioning.  Anthony is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Scientist, a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and a Royal Academy of Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester.

Key areas of expertise

Anthony is a chemical engineer specialising in radioactive waste treatment, waste management and nuclear decommissioning.  He has been called as a subject matter expert by the United Nations Environmental Programme and lectured internationally on his subject area.

Key achievements

In an extensive career he has contributed to many projects across the fuel cycle. Examples include,

• Establishment of the Horizon 2020 Theramin collaborative research project.
• Building the Waste Management and Decommissioning, signature research and subsequent strategic programmes
• The first DIAMOND synchrotron experiments on active material from a Magnox station

Key positions held (since 2000)

• 2012 - present: Chief Technologist, Waste Management and Decommissioning Directorate, National Nuclear Laboratory
• 2016 - present: Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Nuclear Engineering, University of Manchester
• 2010 - 2012: Technical Authority (Legacy Waste and Decommissioning), National Nuclear Laboratory
• 2010 - 2014: Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Nuclear Engineering, University of Manchester

Anthony also represents NNL on the UK-US standing committee, with US Department of Energy and NDA. In Europe Anthony is the technical lead of the Waste Management and Decommissioning group of  Nugenia.

Selected key publications

• Wareing, A., Abrahamsen-Mills, L., Fowler, L., Grave, M., Jarvis, R., Metcalfe, M., Norris, S. and Banford, A.W., 2017. Development of integrated waste management options for irradiated graphite. Nuclear Engineering and Technology.
• Kerry, T., Banford, A.W., Thompson, O.R., Carey, T., Schild, D., Geist, A. and Sharrad, C.A., 2017. Transuranic contamination of stainless steel in nitric acid. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 493, pp.436-441.
• Bower, W.R., Morris, K., Mosselmans, J.F.W., Thompson, O.R., Banford, A.W., Law, K. and Pattrick, R.A.D., 2016. Characterising legacy spent nuclear fuel pond materials using microfocus X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Journal of hazardous materials, 317, pp.97-107.
• Wallbridge, S., Banford, A. and Azapagic, A., 2013. Life cycle environmental impacts of decommissioning Magnox nuclear power plants in the UK. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 18(5), pp.990-1008.
• Metcalfe, M.P., Banford, A.W., Eccles, H. and Norris, S., 2013. EU Carbowaste project: Development of a toolbox for graphite waste management. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 436(1), pp.158-166.
• Fachinger, J., Müller, W., Marsat, E., Grosse, K.H., Seemann, R., Scales, C., Banford, A. and Easton, M.M., 2013, September. Production of an impermeable composite of irradiated graphite and glass by hot isostatic pressing as a long term leach resistant waste form. In ASME 2013 15th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management (pp. V001T01A041-V001T01A041). American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• Samseth, J., Banford, A., Batandjieva-Metcalf, B., Cantone, M.C., Lietava, P., Peimani, H. and Szilagyi, A., 2012. Closing and Decommissioning Nuclear Power Reactors. UNEP Year book, pp.35-49.
• Banford, A.W. and Jarvis, R.B., 2011. Decommissioning of Nuclear Sites. In Nuclear Power and the Environment (pp. 116-128). Royal Society of Chemistry.

Luke O’Brien, Effluents and Environmental Chemistry Business Manager, is a Visiting Scientist for the School of Chemistry at the University of Manchester.

Luke is seeking to understand the association of radioactivity with components in nuclear waste (with Professor Livens and Nick Bryan) and the subsequent relationship with effluents produced during waste storage and retrievals. Linked with this, Luke is also looking at the role of microbial processes in effluent systems (with Prof Jon Lloyd, University of Manchester). Assessment of effluent technology (chemical precipitation, ion exchange, filtration, etc) is supported through links with Clint Sharrad (Research Centre for Radwaste and Decommissioning) and involvement with the Sellafield Limited Centre of Expertise for Effluent Technology.

Luke’s team is playing an active role in the supervision of a variety of sponsored PhDs (e.g. NDA and SL)

Prof. Nick Smith has been NNL Fellow in geocharacterisation and remote laser and quantum sensing since 2014 and is also Technology Manager in geology, GIS, laser sensing and 3D visualisation within NNL’s Environmental Characterisation Team.  He completed a prestigious Royal Society Industry Fellowship between 2013 and 2017 in remote laser characterisation in extreme nuclear environments which involved spending 50% of his time at the University of Manchester where he holds a Visiting Professorship (within the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering). Nick has a degree in geology and a PhD in structural geology and basin dynamics both from Keele University, and an MSc in geographical information science from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Nick’s research interests include structural geology and basin analysis, sedimentology and stratigraphy; bedrock and superficial geology of nuclear infrastructure; digital geological interpretation and modelling using remote laser sensing; and high resolution characterisation for radioactive waste management and nuclear decommissioning using photonics and quantum technologies. All of these areas have provided subject matter for Nick’s extensive portfolio of published journal articles and conference papers, many of which are the result of collaborations with academia (including a number of universities and UK research centres such as the British Geological Survey).

Nick’s NNL Fellowship activities have focused on helping to shape the communication of NNL’s science and technology. He has coordinated NNL’s Publication Awards since their inception, helping to introduce the BEST and Chief Scientist’s Awards. He defined and produced NNL’s S&T Communication Plan in support of the NNL S&T Strategy, and is currently leading NNL Fellowship activities in the ‘sci-comm’ area.

Matthew Barker was appointed Laboratory Fellow in 2015, covering the area of Post Irradiation Evaluation; Matthew is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. Matthew joined the BNFL MOX Technical Department in 2003 having previously completed a degree D.Phil. in High Energy Particle Physics at the University of Oxford. His work for BNFL focused on fuel performance support to the Sellafield MOX Plant.

Matthew moved to NNL in 2005 and took the lead for the Post Irradiation Examination (PIE) component of the MOX fuel performance programme. This included representing NNL in a number of international collaborations and technical management of the PIE programme at external institutions in a number of countries including Germany, Japan, Norway and France. From 2005, he took an increasing role in analysis of AGR reactor graphite and AGR fuel. The work included analysis of basic properties measurements on irradiated reactor graphite and the development of new measurement capabilities.

In 2009, Matthew took the technical lead role for ensuring the quality of results obtained from a large programme of fuel PIE work at Studsvik Nuclear AB in Sweden. In 2010 Matthew took over management of the fuel and graphite performance team, comprised of senior experts within NNL covering CAGR fuel and graphite PIE. A major part of Matthew’s role during this period was as technical lead for the PIE of irradiated fuel from the UK’s fleet of AGR power stations.

Since 2015 Matthew has been the Business Manager and Senior Technical Lead for Civil Fuel Performance work at Windscale. The role provides oversight of technical leads working in multiple areas (SEM, Metallography, NDT, Endoscopy) to fulfil requirements for PIE on AGR Fuel.

Within his current role Matthew also leads a number of IR&D areas aimed at further developing the scientific merit of civil fuel PIE within NNL. As a laboratory fellow, interests include technical development and scientific quality and rigour.

Background

Mike Harrison has an honours degree and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Oxford, where his research interests included inorganic solid state chemistry, glass fabrication and properties, and optical spectroscopy. He joined BNFL in January 2003 as a member of the High Level Waste Plants Team and has worked on the high temperature treatment of a wide range of radioactive waste streams, specialising in vitreous nuclear wasteforms.

Key areas of expertise

Mike is a Chartered Chemist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.  He is senior technical lead of vitrified wasteform fabrication and performance activities, and has directed experimental research programmes on all aspects of vitrified nuclear wastes. In addition, he has interests in the use of pyrochemistry (molten salts) for the treatment of spent nuclear fuel along with the subsequent waste treatment.

Key achievements

Mike has been instrumental in the promotion of the importance of the long-term durability of vitrified HLW, developing he NNL’s capability by the introduction of new testing protocols and via collaborations with several UK universities and various overseas organisations.

Key positions held

He has recently been a work package leader in both the Euratom ‘SACSESS’ and EPSRC ‘REFINE’ molten salts projects, and is currently the Theme Lead for Waste Product Performance and Evolution NNL internal R&D programme. He is also a member of the International Congress on Glass Technical Committee 05 – Nuclear and hazardous waste vitrification.

Key Publications

• M.T. Harrison & C.J. Steele Vitrification of simulated highly active calcines containing high concentrations of sodium and molybdenum in MRS Advances 1, 4233-4238 (2016).
• M.T. Harrison Vitrification of High Level Waste in the UK and The Effect of Composition on Short- and Long-term Durability of UK HLW Glass in Procedia Materials Science 7 (2014).
• S. Gin, A. Abdelouas, L.J. Criscenti, W.L. Ebert, K. Ferrand, T. Geisler, M.T. Harrison, Y. Inagaki, S. Mitsui, K.T. Mueller, J.C. Marra, C.G. Pantano, E.M. Pierce, J.V. Ryan, J.M. Schofield, C.I. Steefel, and J.D. Vienna An international initiative on long-term behavior of high-level nuclear waste glass, Materials Today 16(6), 243-248 (2013).
• M. T. Harrison, C. J. Steele & A. D. Riley The effect on long term aqueous durability of variations in the composition of UK vitrified HLW product, Glass Technol.: Eur. J. Glass Sci. Technol. A, October 2012, 53(5), 211-216.

Background

Glyn has a BSc in Theoretical Physics from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. His early career (1994-2005) was with British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL), where he was involved in fuel design and licensing. This included a two-year secondment to the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) in Norway. During his time at IFE, Glyn worked on the operation and analysis of nuclear fuel behaviour experiments in the Halden Boiling Water Reactor (HBWR) under the auspices of the OECD Halden Reactor Project.

Since 2005, Glyn's work has focused on research and development associated with fuel performance – that is, the thermo-mechanical and thermo-chemical behaviour of nuclear fuel, both in-reactor and during subsequent storage and disposal.

Key Areas of Expertise

Glyn's primary expertise is in Light Water Reactor (LWR) fuel performance and LWR core thermal-hydraulics, in particular in the context of design and licensing of LWR fuel. Glyn also has experience in advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) and fast reactor fuel performance.

Key Achievements

Glyn was fuel performance technical lead for licensing of BNFL mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in Cycles 32 and 33 of the Beznau-1 reactor in Switzerland. He was also the core thermal-hydraulics technical lead for licensing of three reloads of BNFL fuel for the UK’s Sizewell B reactor, and for design and licensing of Lead Test Assemblies (LTAs) for the Loviisa reactor in Finland.

Glyn successfully completed NNL's Technical Excellence Development Programme (TEDP) in 2012, and was the Individual of the Year for Commitment to Quality at the 2015 NNL Impact Awards.

Key Positions Held

Glyn is the chair of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Expert Group on Reactor Fuel Performance (EGRFP), and is the UK representative on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Technical Working Group on Fuel Performance and Technology (TWGFPT). Glyn is also the UK fuels and materials representative on the Halden Programme Group (HPG): the technical steering group for the fuels and materials irradiation programme of the OECD Halden Reactor Project.

Key Publications

Glyn has authored around 20 external publications and more than 80 technical reports. External publications include the following:

• D Shepherd, G D Rossiter, I D Palmer, G Marsh and M Fountain, “Technology readiness level (TRL) assessment of advanced nuclear fuels”, TopFuel 2015, Zurich, Switzerland, September 2015
• G Rossiter, “Understanding and modelling fuel behaviour under irradiation”, in I Crossland (Ed.), “Nuclear fuel cycle science and engineering”, Woodhead Publishing, 2012
• G Rossiter and M Mignanelli, “The characteristics of spent AGR fuel: what can we learn from spent LWR fuel?”, IChemE nuclear fuel cycle conference, Manchester, UK, April 2012
• G Rossiter, “Development of the ENIGMA fuel performance code for whole core analysis and dry storage assessments”, Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Vol. 43 No. 6, December 2011
• T Tverberg, W Wiesenack, S K Yagnik and G Rossiter, “Behavior of homogeneous and heterogeneous MOX fuel”, 2010 LWR Fuel Performance/TopFuel/WRFPM, Orlando, Florida, September 2010
• A Alapour, R M Joyce, A S DiGiovine, S Tarves, N Patino, A Worrall, R Gregg and G Rossiter, “Robust PCI monitoring during PWR operation at Southern Nuclear”, 2010 LWR Fuel Performance/TopFuel/WRFPM, Orlando, Florida, September 2010
• A Worrall, T J Abram, R W H Gregg, K W Hesketh, I D Palmer, G D Rossiter and G M Thomas, “Plutonium utilization options in future UK PWRs using MOX and inert matrix fuels”, Global-2007, Idaho, USA, September 2007
• R Weston, I D Palmer, J M Wright, G D Rossiter, R C Corcoran, T C Gilmour, C T Walker and S Bremier, “Progress on SBR MOX fuel development”, TopFuel, Stockholm, Sweden, May 2001
• R Chawla, C Hellwig, F Jatuff, U Kasemeyer, G Ledergerber, B-H Lee and G Rossiter, “First experimental results from neutronics and in-pile testing of a Pu-Er-Zr oxide inert matrix fuel”, TopFuel, Stockholm, Sweden, May 2001
• G D Rossiter, P M A Cook and R Weston, “Isotopic modelling using the ENIGMA-B fuel performance code”, IAEA technical committee meeting on nuclear fuel behaviour modelling at high burnup and its experimental support, Windermere, UK, June 2000
• I D Palmer, G D Rossiter and R J White, “Development and validation of the ENIGMA code for MOX fuel performance modelling”, IAEA symposium on MOX fuel cycle technologies for medium and long term deployment, Vienna, Austria, May 1999

Background

Dave Goddard was appointed as Fellow for Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing in 2016. Dave joined British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) in 1992 as a material scientist, specialising in the application of scanning probe and scanning electron microscopies to the study of fuel materials. During this time he collaborated with researchers at the University of Oxford which succeeded in producing the first atomic resolution images of uranium dioxide surfaces using an elevated temperature Scanning Tunnelling Microscope.

In 2000, Dave led the establishment of a University Research Alliance in the area of particle science and engineering at the University of Leeds. This group has grown over the years, with over 30 PhD students currently working on a wide range of projects primarily supporting waste management and clean-up activities across the industry.

Key area of Expertise

Throughout his career Dave has provided technical support to fuel manufacturing plants, in particular the Oxide Fuel Complex at Springfields and the Sellafield MOX Plant. More recently he has been the technical lead for the development of a Nuclear Fuels Centre of Excellence, working closely with the University of Manchester. The new facilities at NNL Preston laboratory are being used to investigate novel fabrication routes for fuels with enhanced accident tolerance and high uranium density, such as uranium silicide, that could lead to a step change in the next generation of nuclear fuels.

Key Achievements

Dave is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Chartered Scientist and was recently appointed as a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester. He has co-authored over 30 refereed publications and is a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College. As part of his Fellow role, Dave will be supporting the NNL Science and Technology strategy, making use of his experience of working with universities to establish research strategies with some of NNLs key university partners.

Positions Held

• NNL Fellow in Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing (2016 – present)
• Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester (2016 – present)

Key Publications

• D.T.Goddard, Recent Progress in Accident Tolerant Fuels, Nuclear Future, 13(2), 40-44, 2017.
• D.T.Goddard et al, Manufacturability of U₃Si₂ and its high temperature oxidation behaviour, Proceedings of Topfuel 2016, Boise, Idaho, USA, Sept 2016.

Background

Nassia holds an MBA, an MSc in Energy Systems and the Environment and an MPhys in Laser and Molecular Physics. Her main area of expertise is graphite technology with a key focus on research and development. She has more than 15 years’ experience in the wider energy industry, of which 12 were spent working on nuclear graphite. Nassia has made significant contributions developing measurement techniques for Magnox and AGR graphite samples, managing graphite monitoring campaigns and core safety case reviews.

Key Areas of Expertise

Nassia began her career with British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) at Berkeley, working on whole core modelling in the Graphite Technology team. She expanded her areas of expertise to materials properties and the effects of irradiation and radiolytic oxidation on graphite. Nassia has led the development of a micro mechanistic model of graphite irradiation behaviour and contributed to the IAEA Collaborative Research Programme on Irradiation Creep in Graphite.

In addition to nuclear graphite in operating reactors, Nassia has further developed her expertise in issues relating to graphite waste management. She initiated collaborative research to understand C14 formation and behaviour in graphite cores under the NNL strategic research programme. Nassia has made a significant contribution to the IAEA Collaborative Research Programme on Treatment of Irradiated Graphite and is currently contributing to the IAEA project on irradiated GRAphite Processing Approaches (GRA-PA).

Key Achievements

Nassia is a Chartered Physicist (IoP) and a Chartered Engineer (EC). She is a member of the British Carbon Group committee and the chair of the Physical Properties session of the ASTM committee on Manufactured Carbons and Graphites. She has won the ASTM Appreciation Award and the highly regarded ASTM President’s Leadership Award. Nassia has led more than 100 internal reports and has co-authored more than 20 publications.

Mark is a NNL Laboratory Fellow specialising in actinide chemistry with over 16 years’ experience. With expertise in reprocessing chemistry, he supports the Thorp and Magnox reprocessing plants at Sellafield and provides support to the NDA on options for dealing with the UK plutonium stockpile. Mark is the NNL technical lead on a European Space Agency project that defined the AMPPEX process, used to separate americium from aged plutonium dioxide, leading to the concept design of a ²⁴¹Am production facility. Mark leads work within European Union FPVII funded projects and is currently a work package leader for the Government funded Nuclear Innovation Programme on advanced reprocessing options. He delivers lecture courses on the reprocessing of nuclear fuel to IAEA and UK MoD staff and is the founder and editor of the NNL Science journal. He has strong links with the University of Manchester where he is a visiting research fellow. Mark has over 45 peer reviewed journal papers and a book chapter. He is the inaugural winner of the NNL BEST award for best journal publication on the Raman spectroscopy of plutonium dioxide.

Key publications

• E.J. Watkinson, R.M. Ambrosi, D.P. Kramer, H.R. Williams, M.J. Reece, K. Chen, M.J. Sarsfield, C.D. Barklay, H. Fenwick, D.P. Weston , K. Stephenson, “Sintering trials of analogues of americium oxides for radioisotope power systems”, Journal of Nuclear Materials, 491, 18, (2017).
• E.J. Watkinson, R.M. Ambrosi, H.R. Williams, M.J. Sarsfield, K. Stephenson, D.P. Weston, N. Marsh, C. Haidon, “Cerium neodymium oxide solid solution synthesis as a potential analogue for substoichiometric AmO₂ for radioisotope power systems”, Journal of Nuclear Materials, 486, 308, (2017).
• M. Carrott, C. Maher, C. Mason, M. Sarsfield, R. Taylor, "TRU-SANEX": A variation on the EURO-GANEX and i-SANEX processes for heterogeneous recycling of actinides Np-Cm. Separation Science and Technology, 51, 2198-2213, (2016).
• M.J. Sarsfield, Ch. 13 “The co-precipitation and conversion of mixed actinide oxalates for aqueous-based reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels”, in Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy Vol 79, “Reprocessing and Recycling of Spent Nuclear Fuel”, Ed. R.J. Taylor, Woodhead Publishing, (2015).
• M.J. Sarsfield; R.J. Taylor; C. Puxley; H.M. Steele, "Raman spectroscopy of plutonium dioxide and related materials", Journal of Nuclear Materials, 427, 333, (2012).
• S.D. Reilly; A.J. Gaunt; B.L. Scott; G. Modolo; M. Iqbal; W. Verboom; M.J. Sarsfield, "Plutonium(IV) complexation by diglycolamide ligands-coordination chemistry insight into TODGA-based actinide separations", Chemical Communications, 9732, (2012).
• S.M. Cornet; L.J.L. Haeller; M.J. Sarsfield; D. Collison; M. Helliwell; I. May; N. Kaltsoyannis, "Neptunium(VI) chain and neptunium(VI/V) mixed valence cluster complexes", Chemical Communications, 917, (2009).