Workshop on the Role of Innovation in the Nuclear Back-End
Cerberus Nuclear had the opportunity to attend the Workshop on the Role of Innovation in the Nuclear Back-End, jointly organised by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and Sellafield Ltd. Thomas Scone and Tom Page sat in on the various talks that ranged from the current accomplishments of robotics within nuclear environments around the world to the emerging potential of artificial intelligence to support various ongoing decommissioning challenges.
With representatives from across Europe and further afield, including China, South Korea, Canada and the US, the workshop showed the benefits of learning from the global nuclear industry. Looking forwards, Cerberus Nuclear is keen to keep an eye on further innovative work in different countries and will continue to seek new opportunities for our own expertise and technologies to find use wherever it may be best used.
John Billingsley Elected Secretary of The Shielding Forum
Cerberus Nuclear has been a regular participant in The Shielding Forum (TSF), which brings together radiation shielding professionals from the UK and internationally to share ideas, discuss developments, and support best practice in the field.
TSF plays a key role in promoting good practice in radiation shielding and supporting the UK’s continued development as a centre of excellence in radiation protection. It provides a platform for discussing shielding-related matters, shaping industry best practices, and encouraging collaboration across organisations. TSF also helps address regulatory developments collectively, promotes consistent shielding design approaches, and supports the next generation of professionals through training, engagement, and knowledge sharing.
Cerberus Nuclear has been actively involved in TSF for several years. At recent meetings, we have presented work on the development of Cyclone Sage, a cutting-edge AI assistant for generating MCNP input files; advancements in Cyclone, developed in collaboration with Orthrus Software; as well as development work into the accurate modelling of criticality sources for a variety of applications.
At the most recent TSF meeting, members voted to elect a new committee, and we’re pleased to share that John Billingsley, from our radiation shielding team, was elected as the new Secretary. He will be working alongside Liz Holland as Chair, Joe Scott as Vice Chair, and Craig Williams as Treasurer. We’re proud to see John taking on this role and look forward to continuing our support for TSF and its work within the shielding community.
OpenMC Internal Training
Last week, John Billingsley from our Radiation Shielding team ran a full-day internal training session on OpenMC - a Monte Carlo particle transport code used for simulating neutron and photon transport.
OpenMC is a community-developed, open-source code that has gained popularity for its flexibility, active development, and integration with Python. It is widely adopted in the fusion energy sector, where its ability to perform high-fidelity simulations makes it a valuable tool for design and analysis. Increasingly, OpenMC is also being adopted in other areas of the nuclear industry as interest in modern, open-source tools continues to grow.
The training was well attended by members of both the shielding and criticality teams and was structured as a mix of short lectures and hands-on exercises. John introduced the main concepts of building models with OpenMC, including using its Python API to define geometries and materials, set up source terms, and run transport simulations. Attendees had the chance to follow along with practical examples and try building their own models themselves throughout the day.
The informal workshop format encouraged plenty of discussion, and it was a great opportunity for colleagues to explore how OpenMC might be applied in future projects. It was also a valuable chance for Cerberus to build upon our existing experience and expand our capabilities in the use of modern Monte Carlo transport codes.
Thanks to John for putting together such an informative and engaging session and for helping more of the team get familiar with OpenMC.
OSSFE Conference 2025
Last week, our shielding consultant, John Billingsley, had the opportunity to attend the Open Source Software for Fusion Energy (OSSFE) Conference – a first-of-its-kind event dedicated to advancing the development of open-source tools within the fusion energy community. The conference brought together researchers, developers, and enthusiasts from around the world to share exciting open source developments designed to accelerate progress in one of the most complex scientific challenges of all time.
Throughout the day, there was a wide range of engaging sessions and discussions, including technical talks, poster presentations, software demos, Q&A panel sessions, and informal meetups. Researchers presented on a broad range of topics including plasma physics, neutronics, tritium transport, and materials science, and showcased new tools in practical software tutorials.
The event was hosted through Gather in fully customized virtual platform which had been designed to replicate a real-world conference space. This wasn’t something we’d used before and was an interesting new environment to explore. You could navigate the space just like a real conference – dropping into rooms where presentations where happening or using proximity chat to strike up conversations with other attendees as you “walked” past. It brought a surprisingly authentic feel to an online event.
A huge thank you to the organising committee - Rémi Delaporte-Mathurin, James Dark, Jonathan Shimwell, Nick Murphy, Patrick Shriwise, Samuele Meschini, Ethan Peterson, and Julien Hillairet – for putting together such a well-organised and engaging event. We are looking forward to attending again in 2026.
Cerberus Nuclear returned to the University of Birmingham to deliver an industrial lecture for the Physics and Technology of Nuclear Reactors (PTNR) masters course. Katrina, Toby, and Zac are all alumni of the PTNR course and were excited to return to campus for this presentation.
Katrina opened the presentation, introducing the students to Cerberus Nuclear and the work we do in radiation shielding, criticality safety, as well as nuclear characterisation and innovation.
Zac then discussed radiation shielding in more detail, talking to the students about the different areas of the shielding design process, the importance of these areas, and examples of how an assessment is carried out for each of these areas. The radiation shielding section of the presentation was capped off with a discussion of shielding verification techniques.
Toby delivered the criticality safety section of the lecture, engaging the students with quickfire questions about the factors affecting criticality. He also discussed his experience working as a criticality safety assessor, and introduced the students to criticality safety training resources including CARTA, Cerberus Nuclear's VR criticality training tool.
Katrina closed the presentation with a discussion of career opportunities in the nuclear industry, shining a spotlight on the Working Party on Criticality (WPC) and The Shielding Forum (TSF). It was a fantastic day and was great to catch up with Professor Paul Norman and meet the new cohort of PTNR students.
We would like to thank Paul for inviting us back and wish the current PTNR cohort the best of luck in the future!
HAWTT Team wins NDA Collaboration Award
Following on from the recent NDA supply chain event, we are proud to share that the Higher Activity Waste Thermal Treatment Team (HAWTT) were announced as the winners of the award for 'best example of delivering excellence through collaboration'! Cerberus Nuclear alongside NTS and NWS colleagues have been providing criticality expertise to the programme as part of a wider team composed of RED Engineering, Sellafield Ltd, Cavendish Nuclear, Tetronics, NNL and AtkinsRéalis.
Our congratulations to everyone on the project whose hard work has been recognised in this achievement!
We would like to recognise Sarah, Dan and Tom for their ongoing support on this project for Cerberus Nuclear (with extra thanks for Tom for kindly taking time away from a busy and successful supply chain event to represent Cerberus Nuclear at the receipt of the award).
Cerberus Nuclear at Ignite Space
Last week Cerberus Nuclear attended the Ignite Space event for the first time with an eye to better understanding the vast array of work that goes into the UK Space sector and what opportunities that provides. Thomas Scone, one of our recent consultant hires, visited on the Thursday of the event and had the opportunity to sit in on many interesting talks including a keynote from Prof Suzie Imber and a panel discussion on cross sector collaboration.
Cerberus Nuclear is developing innovative approaches to nuclear safety which work in tandem and take best advantage of well-established shielding and criticality methodologies. As the space industry continues to grow, so to will the necessity of cross sector collaboration. As Thomas heard mentioned more than once at the event, everything we do here on Earth will one day need to be done in space if we are to live there. With the potential use of nuclear power sources and engines, as well as the dangers of solar radiation to long term space exploration, there will certainly be a role for nuclear safety.
In addition to looking into what services Cerberus may be able to provide, there was discussion of what capabilities the space sector may provide in turn. Earth Observation satellites provide massive amount of data about the world we live in and are used for everything from identifying leaks in water networks to identifying unnamed mountains in South America (an interesting side project of the previously mentioned Suzi Imber who is also a keen mountaineer!). With Cerberus’ capabilities in processing and applying ML method to large data sets, we look forward to seeing where our next innovation projects may lead.
Cerberus Nuclear Return to Support NTEC Radiation Shielding Module
Cerberus Nuclear were pleased to once again support the NTEC Radiation Shielding module at the University of Liverpool, marking another consecutive year of involvement. Our consultant, Nick Seibt, delivered a lecture on the Shielding Design Process in collaboration with The Shielding Forum (TSF), which outlined the industry’s best-practice approach to designing effective radiation shielding for facilities handling radiation sources.
We are proud to continue supporting this aspect of the course and to provide students with valuable insight into the practical challenges and considerations of shielding design in industry.
In addition, our consultant, John Billingsley, provided support throughout the day, guiding students in the use of MCNP. It was also great to see so many students working with Cyclone, a state-of-the-art MCNP model viewer developed by Orthrus Software, which significantly streamlined the modelling of the students' experimental setups. The positive feedback on its usability and impact was especially rewarding to receive.
A big thank you to Professor Andy Boston and the NTEC course team for inviting us back again this year. We look forward to continuing our support in the future.
Cerberus Nuclear at the 55th Shielding Forum Meeting
Earlier this week, Cerberus Nuclear was delighted to once again participate in the 55th Shielding Forum Meeting, hosted by Nuclear Transport Solutions at Birchwood Park, Warrington. This meeting is an important event in the calendar for radiation shielding professionals, offering a chance to learn about recent advancements in the field, share knowledge, and network with others.
As an active contributor to the forum, Cerberus played a key role throughout the day with John Billingsley delivering a presentation on the latest developments of Cyclone Sage – a state-of-the-art AI tool integrated with Cyclone, currently being developed in collaboration with Orthrus Software.
Sage is designed to revolutionize radiation transport simulations, offering the ability to generate full, accurate, and hallucination-free MCNP input decks from natural language prompts. This functionality is a game-changer for Monte Carlo simulations, simplifying workflows and significantly reducing errors in calculations. For new shielding analysts, Sage accelerates their training by helping them familiarize themselves with MCNP syntax and perform error-free calculations quickly. For seasoned practitioners, it will help significantly speed up the production of complex MCNP inputs.
We were thrilled to receive very positive feedback on Sage from attendees throughout the day, with many eager to become early-release testers and explore its capabilities firsthand. It was clear to us that the nuclear sector recognizes the potential of a tool like Sage to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of shielding calculations.
Throughout the day, we also saw a variety of other insightful presentations showcasing innovative approaches and advancements in shielding methods and technologies. A huge thank you to Anton Murfin (UKNNL) and the committee for hosting another excellent TSF event.
If you would like to learn more about Cyclone, check out Orthrus Software’s website, and look out for exciting updates on Sage on our website and LinkedIn. If you are interested in becoming an early-release tester of Cyclone Sage, please get in touch via support@orthrussoftware.com.
WPC Workshop on Criticality Safety Assessment Methods
Cerberus Nuclear recently attended the WPC Workshop on Criticality Safety Assessment Methods, which brought together nuclear industry experts, regulators, and professionals to discuss criticality methodology. The event was hosted at the Pride Park Stadium in Derby and focused on regulatory perspectives, foundational methodologies, and practical applications relevant to the nuclear sector.
The workshop began with the regulatory bodies emphasising aligning safety assessments with evolving nuclear standards and maintaining a proactive approach to risk management through early engagement. It was followed by a series of presentation on different Safety Assessment Methods including Design Basis Analysis (DBA), Design Basis Accident Analysis (DBAA) and Double contingency Principle (DCP). Test case assessment methods were presented. A consideration of conditioning factors applied to Initiating Event Frequency within DBA methodology was introduced, as well as a systematic approach to the analysis of double fault methodology within DBA. The workshop concluded with an introduction to Barrier Analysis and Transport Safety Assessment and a relevant exercise.
In conclusion, the workshop highlighted the importance of collaboration among regulators, designers, and operational teams within the nuclear industry, with case studies showcasing effective cross-disciplinary solutions. We would like to thank Rolls Royce for hosting the event and the WPC for organising the workshop.
