Fire Safety Training

A group from Cerberus Nuclear recently received fire safety training. Our trainer for the morning was Steve Wilcock from North West Fire Training. The course started with a presentation on fire safety, which included what fire extinguishers to use in the event of a fire and fire marshal strategies. 

A huge amount of content was covered as part of the training course, but the team’s key takeaways included: 

  • Doors are a powerful tool in preventing the spread of fire, even if they are not a fire door; 
  • Always check the detector which has gone off, and;
  • Do not use a powder extinguisher in an office or home environment.

The presentation was interesting and Steve was very engaging! We were particularly in awe of how in sync he was with his presentation slides! 

After the presentation, the group had a chance to put what they had learnt to the test by putting out fires using a CO2 and foam fire extinguisher.  

We’d like to say a massive thank you to Steve for delivering a great training course, and to Birchwood Golf Club for hosting us! 

New Starter: Thomas Scone

We are delighted to announce that Thomas Scone has joined Cerberus Nuclear!

Thomas has joined us after working as a Teaching Fellow for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, for the last 2 and a half years. Thomas was the Mechanical Engineering Lab Lead for the School of Engineering, managing the design and delivery of various module labs for students. In addition, he developed materials for delivering teaching on ethics in engineering, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and design practises across various modules. His PhD research covered the statistical analysis of large gait data sets and the modelling of magnetic fluids for soft robotic gait rehabilitation.

Thomas will be putting his experience to good use supporting our Nuclear Characterisation team and Innovation Projects, as well as training in Radiation Shielding and Criticality Safety. Welcome to the team Thomas!

New Starter: Andrew Weaver

Cerberus Nuclear is delighted to announce that Andrew Weaver has joined the company as our latest starter. He brings with him a wealth of experience working in academic research, gathered during his PhD at the University of Brighton, including a placement at the IGISOL facility at the University of Jyväskylä. During this time, he gained experience in the fields of nuclear mass measurements, ion-trapping and gamma-ray spectroscopy, with the aim of studying low-lying isomeric states in radioactive nuclei. These skills were developed further, along with other technical skills during a post doc at the TITAN facility at TRIUMF, Canada's national particle accelerator centre.

Andrew will be working as a radiation shielding and criticality safety consultant, and we are delighted to welcome him to the team!

Sam and Toby's Charity Ride for the Jacob Billington Trust

Cerberus Nuclear are thrilled to share news that two of the team - Sam and Toby, recently completed an incredible cycling fundraiser in support of the Jacob Billington Trust (JBT). 

The JBT is a north west-based charity founded in 2022 for the benefit of young people in the Sefton area. Its objective is to assist young people in accessing music and the creative arts via a number of initiatives, such as: part-funded music lessons, song writing and storytelling sessions, funding for rehearsal spaces and courses, and live events showcasing amazing local talent. One of our employees, John, is also currently a Trustee of the charity. 

Over the course of three days, Sam and Toby pedalled over 200 miles from Southport to Hornsea to complete the famous coast-to-coast Trans Pennine Trail. Their journey was filled with incredible views, endless camaraderie, and miraculously, not a single puncture! Daily updates on their progress were shared on their JustGiving page which kept us all on the edge of our seats, rooting for them every mile of the way. 

With very tired legs, but high spirits, Sam and Toby raised an astounding £1400, completely surpassing their original target of £1000 which is testament to their dedication and hard work. We are incredibly proud of them both for taking on the challenge in support of a great cause. 

At Cerberus Nuclear, we encourage our employees to challenge themselves and to give back to the local community. We are incredibly proud of what Sam and Toby have achieved, and because of this, we have contributed a further £1000 to the JBT.

"Corporate donations play a pivotal role in the nonprofit sector, and we are incredibly grateful to Sam, Toby, and Cerberus Nuclear for their outstanding support. Their combined efforts not only raise crucial funds to support the young people of Sefton, but also spread awareness of our goals as a charity. A huge thank you to you all."

- Sam D'Auvin, Chair of Trustees of JBT

If you’d like to learn more about the JBT and their work, check out the link here

Trip to Daresbury Labs

Cerberus Nuclear recently visited Daresbury Laboratory to explore the current activities on site and potential collaboration in the future.

Being at the forefront of modern science since 1962, Daresbury Laboratory is globally acknowledged for its outstanding scientific achievements across a wide range of disciplines. Cerberus Nuclear was honoured to initially visit the Accelerator Science and Technology Centre (ASTeC) and the Cockcroft Institute, in which several applications of accelerator science are being researched. The team visited a number of laboratories, including the radiofrequency lab, and the advanced 3D printing lab. It was great to see radiation shielding in practice, which the particle accelerator CLARA housed in thick concrete walls and with labyrinth structure designs!

The trip continued with a short walk to the Hartree Centre which focuses on exploring and developing supercomputing, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The team were able to view the visualisation suite, including demos of the aerodynamic design of a F1 car, and the VR suite.

Tom Page also gave a presentation on some of the work that Cerberus Nuclear are doing alongside our key consultancy services. The trip was a great opportunity for discussion of potential collaboration opportunities and mechanisms, and the team came away with plenty of new ideas for innovation projects.

Our special thanks extend to Daryl McManus for organising the visit, Anthony Gleeson for a great tour of the ASTeC facilities, and Jonathan Smith for hosting us at the Hartree Centre!

YGN Introduction to Safety Case, Criticality and Shielding Seminar

For the second year running, Cerberus Nuclear have sponsored the Nuclear Institute (NI) Young Generation Network (YGN) “Introduction to Safety Case, Criticality and Shielding” seminar. This is one of a series of “Intro to” events which aims to give YGN members and early career professionals a valuable insight into different specialisms within the nuclear industry. 

The day featured an array of talks covering topics on radiation safety assessment, safety case procedure, shielding and criticality, and the Cerberus Nuclear team were involved throughout the day! Tom, a Cerberus Nuclear director, started the day with an introduction to our company history and capability. Daniel gave a lecture on what a criticality is, covering the underlying physics and the factors affecting criticality. Sarah and Zac gave an overview of interesting applications of both criticality and shielding that Cerberus has been involved in. This showcased our virtual reality criticality training tool CARTA, our recent Game Changers project for Sellafield Ltd in collaboration with Jacobs, development work in shielding for fusion reactors and previous shielding verification work.  

The day concluded with a Q&A panel, with Sarah and Tom helping the panellists to provide insight and advice on careers in criticality, shielding and safety cases. There was plenty of opportunity for discussions with delegates, who all had very thoughtful and inquisitive questions and we also had some exciting networking conversations with the other speakers, so expect upcoming collaborations and future events!

Thank you to Ellie Ford and the NI YGN for organising a successful event!

Universities' Nuclear Technology Forum 2024

We’re happy to share that one of our criticality consultants, Haleema, recently attended the Universities’ Nuclear Technology Forum 2024, hosted by the University of Leeds.

The forum brought together industry and academia, exploring current research and advancements. Particular presentation standouts were Ewan Woodbridge (University of  Bristol) “The Utilization of Legacy Mine Sites as Training Environments for Radiological Emergency Response Preparedness”, and Dr Mariia Zimina (University of Bristol) “ Neutron irradiated materials studies: challenges and prospects”. It was interesting to reflect on the current work at Cerberus Nuclear and the potential applications of research into industry.

As part of the event Haleema was able to tour the MULTIForm laboratory facilities, which specialise in experimental investigation into the study of multiphase flows in water/acidic systems and high temperature molten salt systems. Lastly Haleema really enjoyed seeing the famous University of Leeds rabbits that were enjoying the summer weather in St. Georges field.

Thank you to the event organisers for putting on an excellent event in the historic University of Leeds campus. 

Retain, Sustain, and Thrive: Cerberus Nuclear attend the IDN Conference 2024

Last week, three members of the Cerberus Nuclear team, Katrina Christaki, Hannah Evans, and Dan Rutland, attended the Inclusion and Diversity in Nuclear (IDN) Conference 2024 in Manchester. The theme of this years conference was "Retain, Sustain, and Thrive: Harnessing Inclusion to Power Growth in the UK Nuclear Sector", which focused on how to retain people within the sector by creating environments where everyone feels welcomed and enabled to thrive.

The morning featured a panel from industry leaders on how they implement cultural change and a engaging keynote speech from Prof. Jason Arday on Intersectionality and Belonging in the Workplace. The afternoon saw the team split up to cover a wide range of available workshops covering topics on retaining neurodivergent colleagues, embracing privilege, confronting microaggressions in the workplace, and how to achieve EDI accreditation.

We look forward to sharing and embracing the lessons learned from the event amongst the team, and using that knowledge to help continually improve making the company and nuclear industry a welcoming and supportive place to be. We will be using our learnings from the event to develop an EDI Strategy for the company, which we look forward to sharing in the future!

Cerberus Nuclear joins University of Birmingham Nuclear Masters Steering Committee

Cerberus Nuclear are excited to join the steering committee for the Physics and Technology of Nuclear Reactors (PTNR) MSc and Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management (NDAWM) MSc at the University of Birmingham. The department was the home of the first nuclear reactor in Britain and has been running the PTNR MSc since 1956. The university more recently added the NDAWM MSc, and continually updates the degrees to reflect the increasing sophistication of the field and the requirements of the industry.

A steering committee meeting was held yesterday (19th June), and Katrina Christaki and Daniel Rutland were delighted to take part! The meeting was attended by a number of industry leaders. The purpose of the steering committee was to discuss key issues, including the course content, opportunities for students, and the continual need from across the nuclear industry for skills taught on both courses, such as criticality and shielding.

Cerberus Nuclear has enjoyed a successful relationship with the university, taking on students for summer placements and in graduate roles in previous years. We look forward to becoming more involved with the courses as part of the steering committee.

We would like to thank Paul Norman for inviting us to be involved in the steering committee, and for organising an interesting and thought provoking day!

TSF & WPC: Cerberus Nuclear Presents at Specialist Forums

Cerberus Nuclear was honoured to participate once again in The Shielding Forum (TSF) and Working Party on Criticality (WPC) meetings at the ANSWERS Seminar in Bournemouth. Over the course of three days, professionals from across the nuclear sector gathered to exchange ideas and present work on crucial topics in radiation shielding and criticality safety.

At TSF, John Billingsley presented recent development work undertaken into the precise and accurate modelling of criticality sources for a variety of applications, highlighting Cerberus Nuclear’s commitment to continuous improvement and knowledge sharing within the industry. This work also showcased Cerberus Nuclear’s new state-of-the-art Monte Carlo transport code – Tempest, by benchmarking results against multiple nuclear codes commonly used across industry.

Additionally, Daniel Cork had the opportunity to present further developments of Cyclone, developed by Orthrus Software. He introduced an AI assistant called Cyclone Sage designed to assist users in the creation of MCNP input files – a potentially ground breaking application in the field of radiation shielding and criticality.

At the WPC meeting, there were interesting group discussions on some of the key issues and potential solutions facing UK criticality today, as well as updates on subgroup developments and future possibilities and changes in the industry. The team from Cerberus Nuclear were active participants in the meeting, with Stewart Hay presenting on the changes to criticality dose assumptions, and Toby Tyas giving an update on subgroup activities. Katrina Christaki also continued her key role as the WPC secretary. We would like to thank the new WPC Chair Liam Payne for ensuring a thought provoking and productive event. 

Members of the Cerberus Nuclear criticality team also attended the Early Careers Criticality Safety Network (ECSN) speed mentoring event after the WPC meeting, as both mentors and mentees. This offered an invaluable chance for some 1-on-1 discussions about criticality safety with a range of experts in the field, as well as a chance to network and get to know members from other organisations. We would like to thank the ECSN for organising this event, as well as the members of the WPC who agreed to attend and be mentors. 

Finally, we would like to thank the team at Jacobs for hosting the conference, and we look forward to contributing further in the future.