Cerberus Nuclear are pleased to announce that we have created a spin-off company called Orthrus Software. Orthrus specialises in engineering software tools and machine learning. Crucially, it will provide a platform for the release of Cyclone™.
Cyclone™ is a suite of software utilities intended to facilitate file management, data management, and visualisation of Monte Carlo models and results. The various components of Cyclone™ have been developed over a number of years and greatly enhance our in-house calculation capability.
Cerberus Nuclear and Assystem have been selected to deliver the STEP Reactor In-board Shield Design as part of the STEP Engineering Framework.
Cerberus’s neutronics and radiation transport expertise will play a key role working alongside Assystem’s well-established fusion experience in thermal and mechanical analysis.
The project concerns the extreme environment within the central column of the STEP fusion reactor where temperatures can range from over 100 million of degrees Celsius within the plasma to less than -200 degrees within just a few metres.
Tokamak Reactor MCNP® Geometry, produced using Cyclone™ Viewer by Orthrus Software.
Example Plasma Source & Neutron Interaction Cross Section used in Neutronics Calculations.
Cerberus Nuclear and Assystem are working closely with the STEP research team at UKAEA to develop radiation shielding and cooling strategies within the in-board shield section of the central column. The overall aim is to protect the sensitive toroidal magnets within the central column that work to contain the high temperature plasma. Cerberus role involves optimisation of the shielding to maximise the operational lifetime of these crucial reactor components. Using our knowledge and expertise in neutronics transport as well as interaction cross sections will be simulating a wide variety of arrangements to support continued development.
The delivery of this project is key in advancing the STEP fusion reactor design to the next phase, moving us closer to achieving a commercially viable fusion power plant.
“We are pleased to be working alongside Cerberus Nuclear on this key aspect of STEP. Collectively we will pool the engineering and design expertise, and specialist knowledge needed to ensure success in this project.
“Assystem is a well-established fusion engineering company working on multiple international projects, and we are invested in the UK’s ambition to accelerate progress in the development of this game-changing technology.”
Gary Reed, Transitional Energy Business Manager, Assystem
In its 13 countries of operation, Assystem’s 6,000+ experts are supporting energy transition. To achieve an affordable low-carbon energy supply, Assystem is committed to the development of decarbonised electricity (nuclear, renewables and electricity grids) and clean hydrogen. The Group is also helping drive the use of decarbonised electricity in industrial sectors such as transportation. Assystem is currently ranked as the second nuclear engineering group in the world.
"Cerberus is very proud to be contributing to such a noteworthy project with worldwide importance.
“The skills and experience we have in-house regarding radiation shielding is uniquely suited to support the project. Working closely with our colleagues at Assystem we look forward to the challenge of what will be a highly significant and exciting project.”
Daniel Cork, Director, Cerberus Nuclear
Cerberus Nuclear is an SME dedicated to radiation shielding, criticality safety and nuclear characterisation. Founded in 2016 we have grown rapidly to establish ourselves as an industry leader with a reputation for innovation and promoting good practice.
Our team has supported a wide range of projects within the civil nuclear, fusion, medical, research and defence sectors. Our mission is to “to provide high quality technical solutions with an emphasis on creativity and innovation. We achieve this by being an exemplary employer of talented individuals”
We have been working hard to implement our Business Management System (BMS). The system provides the policies, processes, procedures and records of forms/templates for consistent management of the business, projects and personnel with regards to Quality, Environment and Health and Safety. At the heart of this system are our Quality, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety Policies.
The impact of the BMS can already be seen. The entire company was recently first aid trained, and we have been using Microsoft Forms for recording communication and training sessions, such as the mentoring sessions lead by experienced assessors for our new starters.
In August our BMS was audited by the British Assessment Bureau. We are excited to announce that, as a result of this external audit, we are now UKAS accredited for ISO Standards 9001 (Quality Management), 14001 (Environmental Management) and 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety)!
You can verify the validity of our ISO certificates by entering our certificate numbers (229161, 230299, 230300) via this link: www.british-assessment.co.uk/verify
Emergency First Aid Training at Work
Cerberus Nuclear recently took part in ‘Emergency First Aid Training at Work’, delivered by St John Ambulance.
Julie (St John Ambulance) delivered an informative and engaging course with lots of interaction from team. The course is aimed at first aiders in small, low risk working environments, like ours, and teaches basic life saving first aid skills including CPR, bleeding, choking adults, use of defibrillators, and health & safety regulation.
In recognition of the flexible way in which we work, we decided it would be best for everyone to undertake the training so as not to be reliant on ‘nominated first aiders’. This was the first time (almost) all of the company were together since before the pandemic and provided an opportunity for the recent new starters to meet everyone (more news on this soon!). The fact that we were also able to go for a meal afterwards was a bonus.
Following on from the training, we have made improvements to our office first aid kit and fitted a defibrillator in our Birchwood Park office. The feedback from the course was very positive and we would recommend it to other organisations.
Cerberus Nuclear at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris
The WNE is the world's largest exhibition dedicated to nuclear energy, and the first platform dedicated to the global civil nuclear community. The three day event combines business meetings, guided tours, workshops, debates and panel discussions. This year's event theme is "the nuclear industry, a key partner for a low carbon society in a responsible future".
Our booth is in the Start Up Planet, a dedicated exhibition space for about 20 new companies in the nuclear field which has been specially designed to optimise product demonstrations, pitches, networking and new encounters. In addition to our exhibition booth, we have also been entered into the WNE Innovation Awards for the Radiation Protection Training Aid (RAPTA).
This year, the WNE Awards Ceremony will take place at 5pm on 30th November. There will be two prizes for each of the four innovation categories - Nuclear Safety, Operational Excellence, Products & Services, and Skills & Knowledge Management.
The end of September was dissertation deadline time for our three NTEC summer students. This was our busiest year to date, welcoming three students from the University of Manchester.
NTEC (Nuclear Technology Education Consortium) offer a postgraduate-level masters degree in Nuclear Science and Technology, which is delivered in both directly taught and distance learning formats. Students produce a dissertation over the summer, often involving support of industry partners like Cerberus Nuclear.
This year, students worked on projects involving modelling of arrays in criticality safety, analytical methods for radiation shielding and machine learning optimisation.
All of our students successfully completed their projects and we wait in anticipation for their results!
As part of the latest update to the Sellafield opportunities guidance, Cerberus Nuclear has been featured within its SME action plan. The SME action plan reaffirms Sellafield's commitment to increase opportunities for SMEs within the supply chain recognising the adaptability, innovation and value that SMEs bring to help Sellafield deliver its mission.
As a public contracting authority Sellafield Ltd are committed to delivering activities which increase the opportunities for SMEs (small to medium enterprises) to do business with the supply chain. Sellafield have a target to spend 32 - 33% of supply chain spend with SMEs in 2021/22.
To learn more about ANDI and our latest developments combining computer vision with 360 video go to ANDI360.
Nuclear Institute - Dynamic Dose Rates
As part of Cerberus Nuclear’s Radiation Protection Training Aid (RAPTA) continued development work has been performed regarding the visualisation of dynamic radiation systems.
A dynamic radiation system is where radiation sources can move or change properties in 3D space either during a task or a facility operation. Cerberus Nuclear have developed in-house software to process these complex systems and simulate dynamic radiation scenarios within reasonable timescales.
Sam Hilton will be presenting at the North West Nuclear Institute talking about the advantages of accurately modelling dynamic radiation systems and how this can improve the accuracy of dose uptake assessments. The event is on 16th June, is free to attend, registration can be found at:
As part of our ongoing commitment to cyber security, Cerberus Nuclear are pleased to announce the renewal of our Cyber Essentials Plus certification.
Cyber Essentials is a Government-backed and industry-supported scheme that helps businesses protect themselves against the growing threat of cyber attacks and provides a clear statement of the basic controls organisations should have in place to protect them.
The Cyber Essentials Plus certification involves a more rigorous test of a companies IT systems where cyber security experts carry out vulnerability and penetration tests to make sure an organisation is protected.
Our Cyber Essentials Plus certification provides additional confidence to all our clients regarding our approach to data security.
ANDI: 360 Tracking
This is our latest post regarding our software ANDI (Automated Nuclear Damage Inspection) and incorporating identification capability with 360 video data.
The 360 camera sector has advanced significantly over the past few years, camera resolution and image quality has improved greatly as well as advancements in software processing to provide multiple different ways of viewing the captured images and video. Cerberus Nuclear has been keeping up to date with latest developments with an aim of using this technology in the nuclear sector.
Cerberus recently developed ANDI (Automated Nuclear Damage Inspection) for Sellafield Ltd. The software automatically identifies key areas of damage from inspection videos and is currently being used by Sellafield to accelerate damage inspection tasks. The software is built into a user-friendly interface and supports the creation of reports and logging of key identified features.
Building upon our knowledge we are currently testing the use of 360 camera and video data with our custom computer vision algorithms, including ANDI. Some key advantages of using 360 data for automated damage inspection is that the orientation of the inspection camera is no longer a factor as images capture the full 360 degrees.
Similar technology is currently being used in autonomous vehicles for object identification and distance determination.
Footage obtained from a Cerberus Nuclear test car.
Our preliminary testing has proved to be very successful and we have overcome some of the challenges inherent in working directly with 360 data sets. The prototype software we have created demonstrates the capability of combining both 360 image technology with our bespoke computer vision algorithms.
Our goal is to continue the development of ANDI so this highly useful and innovative technology can be put to good use solving a wide range of challenges in the nuclear sector and beyond.
Look out for future updates, if you would like to learn more don't hesitate to get in touch at nuclear@cerberusnuclear.com.
