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.

Nuclear Modelling 2024

Last week, Cerberus Nuclear had a fantastic time attending the 7th Modelling in Nuclear Science and Engineering Seminar in Manchester. The event was hosted by the Nuclear Institute and was an excellent chance for Andrew and Carl to network and learn about recent developments in the field of nuclear modelling.

There was a large focus on the implementation of AI within the nuclear industry. This related to the creation of both more accurate assessments and more user-friendly programs. We were particularly interested in developments relating to nuclear safety cases, as well as other aspects of nuclear modelling that are applicable to the work carried out at Cerberus on a day-to-day basis.

This seminar was a great opportunity to see a variety of different ideas that the rest of the industry has for the use of AI in nuclear modelling ahead of Orthrus Software's presentation on Cyclone Sage at RPSD 2024 in Orlando next week. Cyclone Sage is an integrated AI assistant within Cyclone, which can aid in the creation of MCNP input decks

Seminars like these inspire us at Cerberus Nuclear to continue our mission to provide high quality technical solutions with an emphasis on creativity and innovation. The development of tools for use in nuclear modelling and data science at Cerberus helps the industry to optimise its workflow, while allowing us to excel in the fields of radiation shielding, criticality safety and nuclear characterisation.

We look forward to attending similar events in the future! Make sure to look out for our blog post about RPSD 2024 in the next few weeks and definitely say hello to us in Orlando if you'll be attending in person!

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! 

Cerberus Trip to the Black Country Museum

A small group from Cerberus Nuclear recently took a trip to the Black Country Living Museum, an award-winning open air museum set across 26 acres in the heart of the Black Country. They had a fantastic day exploring over 250 years of history and treating themselves to lots of chips!

The day started off with a fascinating tour of a 19th century drift mine with incredibly low ceilings and only the equivalent of candlelight to guide them through the darkness. They were given a rundown of various roles within the mine and the treacherous conditions people had to work in.

This experience left the group a bit peckish so they got themselves some world famous fish and chips and set up base in the Elephant and Castle pub located within the grounds of the museum.

Following this little pit stop, they took part in an authentic school experience. This included practising their times tables and reciting the alphabet, as well as receiving some outdated forms of punishment if they misbehaved.

They rounded off their exciting day out with a trip to Mad O'Rourkes Pie Factory, where they enjoyed even more chips and some outstanding pies! It was a very successful trip and a great opportunity for the team to spend some quality time together outside of the office.

University Careers Fairs 2024

Cerberus Nuclear attended two separate careers fairs on the 16/10/2024. John, Thomas, and Zac travelled to the University of Birmingham's STEM Fair while Dan, Sam, and Tom attended the White Rose Industrial Physics Academy Placement and Recruitment Fair based at the University of York.

Both trips were a success! We had the opportunity to talk to lots of interesting people with a wide variety of backgrounds and future career plans. We would like to thank the University of Birmingham, University of York, and the White Rose Industrial Physics Academy for their hands in organising these events and their hospitality throughout.

We love being able to introduce people to Radiation Shielding and Criticality Safety at these types of events as well as talking to those who already have aspirations to work within these fields. Cerberus Nuclear look forward to attending similar events throughout the year and hopefully returning to both of these events next year!

Cerberus Nuclear Stand at the University of York

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!

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!

First Aid Training

Cerberus Nuclear recently took part in First Aid Training delivered by the team at St. John Ambulance.

Debbie took the team through the training for the "Emergency First Aid at Work" certificate, in what was an interesting and engaging day. Training covered a range of areas such as the use of first aid kits, health & safety regulations, how to remain safe, and active skills someone may need to be an effective first aider. These included situations such a choking, severe bleeding, shock, unresponsiveness, and someone not breathing.

The training was received very positively by the team, with first time first aiders and those renewing their training learning from the most up-to-date recommendations and advice. Many thanks to Debbie and the team from St John Ambulance for the day and we would highly recommend the course to other organisations.

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.

Credit: INTA Website

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.

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!