How Far Is it from Chicago to Boston?

Well... That Depends How You Measure It

“What on earth is a Smoot?” was the question John and I found ourselves pondering in Boston, standing on Harvard bridge on our way to MIT.

This unit of measure became the perfect metaphor for the distance travelled on our epic journey across America promoting Cyclone Sage - our new AI assistant integrated into Cyclone (Orthrus Software) designed to support nuclear engineering and fusion workflows. It was a trip full of amazing experiences, with some serious science folded in too.

One Smoot, as it turns out, is precisely the length of MIT student Oliver Smoot (5 ft 7 inches), who repeatedly lay down end-to-end across the Harvard Bridge in 1958, creating one of academia’s most eccentric units. The bridge is exactly 364.4 Smoots long, plus or minus one ear.

ANS Conference – Cyclone Sage and Deep-Dish Pizza

Distance Travelled: 17.5 miles / 18,480 Smoots (O’Hare Airport to downtown Chicago)

We began our journey in Chicago at the American Nuclear Society (ANS) conference where we caught up with lots of familiar faces. Here, we introduced our AI assistant, Cyclone Sage, designed to streamline the creation of input decks for MCNP. Sage garnered significant interest and thoughtful discussion, and it was great to see enthusiasm for an AI solution carefully tailored to meet the needs of the nuclear sector.

Aside from the conference, Chicago itself was a brilliant city. We marvelled at the city’s skyline, took in views along the iconic Chicago River, and tackled the legendary deep-dish pizza. Let’s just say we hit a delicious but formidable “cheese wall” at Labriola restaurant, a battle both John and I lost.

Argonne National Lab – High Energy Research and Reactor History

Distance Travelled: 24.5 miles / 25,872 Smoots (Chicago to Argonne)

Upon leaving Chicago, we toured Argonne National Laboratory, an epicentre of nuclear history and cutting-edge research. Here, we glimpsed the remarkable Advanced Photon Source - an immense high-energy X-ray facility where researchers worldwide collaborate on groundbreaking science.

A highlight of the tour was the chance to touch a graphite block from the historic Chicago Pile 1 - the world’s first nuclear reactor. Additionally, we learned a great deal about Argonne’s pioneering work in science, including sodium-cooled reactor technology and exascale computing.

Road Trip Begins – The Open Road

Distance Travelled: 210 miles / 221,760 Smoots (Argonne to Holiday City)

Check out the decals...and always get the damage waiver!

For the next stage of our journey, our trusty GMC Sierra V8 pickup truck carried us eastward on the I90. Despite being absolutely massive, it was surprising easy to drive and powered us comfortably along, towering above almost everything in sight. Arriving late at a rather quirky hotel, we had a brief but memorable pitstop, with our sights set firmly on reaching the stunning spectacle of Niagara Falls the next day.

Cleveland to Niagara – Rock & Roll, Harleys, and brief trip to Canada

Distance Travelled: 359 miles / 379,104 Smoots (Holiday City to Buffalo via Cleveland & Niagara)

Our next stop brought us to Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which pays tribute to iconic bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and even… Def Leppard. With eardrums still intact, we found a playlist with 100s of hall of fame hits which got us through the many miles of driving. As we continued our journey, we visited a very cool Harley-Davidson dealership, where we had to resist swapping the trusty pickup for two hogs.

Arriving at Niagara Falls was amazing, especially after hearing enthusiastic reviews from people we’d chatted with at ANS. They suggested we cross the Rainbow Bridge into Canada for the best views, and they weren’t wrong. Fortunately, the border officials let us back into the States after buying quite a lot of maple syrup.

A bit too much moderator in this CARTA simulation

Finger Lakes to Springfield – Nature, Baseball and Some American Culture

Distance Travelled: 240 miles / 253,440 Smoots (Buffalo, NY to Springfield, NY, via Montezuma, Skaneateles, and Cooperstown)

Leaving the interstate we drove through the tranquil Finger Lakes region, stopping at Montezuma Wildlife Refuge where a huge eagle statue stands on the roadside. Birdwatching with binoculars from Nuclear Talent Scout exhibiting at ANS was great - thanks for freebie, they were put to good use!

Continuing our drive, we made a memorable stop in the lakeside town of Skaneateles, enjoying much needed coffee and pastries. The locals found it quite amusing when we said “cheers” after receiving our coffees as apparently this doesn’t quite translate in the USA (along with other phrases like: “we need to get a wriggle on” and: “that’ll take donkeys years”). The town was distinctly upmarket with lots of American flags, the same with all the towns we drove through. It was quite a sight.

Cooperstown guided us through the history of baseball, revealing how it united communities across the states. We unfortunately missed attending a ball game in Chicago due to heavy rain, but there’s always next time! Springfield offered us some excellent German cuisine from a local recommendation, reminding us how cultural influences are very broad across America.

The Last Leg – Battleship Cove and on to Boston

Distance Travelled: 154 miles / 162,624 Smoots (Springfield, MA, to Boston via Battleship Cove in Fall River)

Battleship Cove near Boston gave us a look into maritime history, exploring the USS Massachusetts and USS Swordfish, a humbling reminder of the bravery of people during WW2. Experiencing the confined spaces and harsh conditions onboard made us appreciate just how tough life must have been for the people who spent months at sea. We then departed to Boston. After 4 days of travelling, we were both tired but there was no time to waste! We were straight into the SOFE conference the very next day.

Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE) 2025

In Boston, our focus turned to fusion energy at the Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE), where we were warmly welcomed by familiar faces. All of the fusion industry leaders were present, UK Industrial Fusion Solutions (UKIFS), Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Tokamak Energy, and Proxima Fusion, just to name a few. A highlight was a bespoke tour given by Rémi Delaporte-Mathurin (MIT) who showed us around the cutting-edge LIBRA tritium breeding experiment. We expressed our thanks with a limited-edition Cerberus Nuclear mug and Yorkshire Tea, essential provisions for any fusion scientist.

Our poster session promoting Cyclone and Cyclone Sage for fusion neutronics analysis was very well attended. The level of engagement was fantastic; both John and I nearly lost our voices from the sheer number of people we spoke to.

Visiting Commonwealth Fusion Systems’s SPARC was genuinely impressive. The rapid progress made has only heightened our excitement for fusion energy’s potential. Lookout from them in 2027 when its due to be turned on.

It's a long way from Chicago to Boston

Of course, we couldn’t leave Boston without visiting where Smoot’s story began, it turns out I’m slightly taller than one Smoot! Most visitors who walk across the Harvard bridge rarely notice the marks that are repainted every year, making it a fascinating hidden piece of MIT knowledge.

If you would like to learn more check out Matt Parker’s brilliant Stand-up Maths video, "The bridge which is measured in smoots”.

So how far is it from Chicago to Boston? Well, it's about 1005 miles, or 1,061,280 smoots +- 1 ear, and probably quite a bit more if you include how many steps we did! With that, our journey across the USA came to a close.

After all this it’s easy to forget that this whole adventure was about Cyclone and Cyclone Sage. So if you’re curious what Orthrus Software are up to, drop them an email (support@orthrussoftware.com) or check out orthrussoftware.com.

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.

PTNR Industrial Lecture 2025

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!

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.

New Starter: Daniel Murphy

Cerberus Nuclear is delighted to welcome Daniel Murphy to our team!

Daniel joins us after spending a year as a Health Physicist at Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station in Canada. Daniel will be working as a Radiation Shielding Consultant. He has a solid and diverse background in Operational Health Physics and Shielding Design, providing on-the-ground health physics support during running and outage work at Point Lepreau and also having 6 years experience doing shielding calculations for clients across the UK civil nuclear industry and internationally as a consultant.

Daniel is looking forward to playing a leading role in delivering excellent quality work and solving challenging shielding problems for Cerberus Nuclear clients. Welcome aboard Daniel!

Tour of INTA Technology Campus

Earlier this year, our Radiation Shielding Consultants John, Sam, and Zac visited INTA, the National Institute for Aerospace Technologies in Madrid while attending a FLUKA.CERN course.

They had the opportunity to tour multiple areas of the INTA campus and learn from experts working at the cutting edge of the international aerospace industry.

They visited an anechoic chamber where satellites and aircraft undergo a variety of tests. This includes but is not limited to the study of electromagnetic absorption measurements of materials, electromagnetic characterisation of materials in free space, and measurements of the effect of coatings on radiation or scatter patterns.

They were also shown round the turbojet test centre (picture at the top of the article), where engines are put through rigorous testing to ensure they are suitable for commercial use.

Finally, they explored the astrobiology department and received a lecture on the history of our solar system, as well as some exciting updates regarding ongoing projects at INTA.

Thanks to all those at INTA for providing these opportunities for our team while they were visiting for the FLUKA.CERN course.

Cerberus Nuclear have consolidated our capabilities in a broad range of high energy physics disciplines through our access to the FLUKA code. We are excited to have the opportunity to use FLUKA as a key tool in a variety of projects across the industry.

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!

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!