Cerberus Nuclear is an active member of the Working Party on Criticality (WPC). The WPC is a formal sub-group of the Safety Directors Forum. The WPC’s focus is criticality safety issues up to, but not including, experimental and in-core power reactor operations. The issues considered are relevant to fabrication, transportation, storage and other operations relating to nuclear materials (e.g. new build, enrichment, reprocessing, decommissioning and long-term waste management).
Katrina Christaki, one of our criticality safety assessors, has recently been elected as secretary for the WPC. This role involves preparing the agenda and minutes for the meetings as well as management of the WPC papers. Katrina is excited to take on this key role supporting the activities of the WPC.
Successful Neutronics Workshop at the University of York
Cerberus Nuclear is thrilled to have been invited to deliver a Neutronics Workshop as part of the Fusion CDT course at the University of York, marking the second consecutive year of our participation. As part of the course, students participate in a week-long fusion technology module to gain a comprehensive understanding of fusion science, covering key topics such as reactor technology, plasma physics, and neutronics modelling.
The week commenced with a workshop on the use of the open-source Monte Carlo transport code OpenMC fusion applications. The workshop was co-delivered by John Billingsley (Cerberus Nuclear) and Dr Jonathan Shimwell (First Light Fusion). Together, they presented the course and provided Master’s and PhD students with valuable insights drawn from their industry experience.
The workshop was a resounding success, offering students hands-on experience with key concepts such as transport theory, material cross-sections, model geometries, source and tally definitions, and running neutronics simulations. John and Jon’s guidance and insights proved invaluable, equipping the students with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the field of fusion neutronics.
Cerberus Nuclear is proud to have played a role in the education and development of the next generation of fusion professionals. We early look forward to future opportunities to collaborate with the University of York and the FusionCDT in advancing the field of fusion technology.
“Once again, thanks to the University of York for the invitation to deliver the neutronics workshop for the third year in a row. The workshop was a resounding success, with students gaining valuable insights into the application of neutronics codes in fusion technology.
Thank you to Dr Arkaprava Bokshi for organising a great module.”
– John Billingsley
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year from everyone at Cerberus Nuclear!
As well as the start of the new year, we are celebrating 6 years as a company. We would like to thank everyone who has supported us over the years, from our dedicated team to our valued clients and collaborators. We look forward to what 2023 will bring!
New Starter - Haleema H
We are delighted to welcome Haleema to the team full time following her summer project with the company for her Nuclear Decommissioning MSc. Haleema will be supporting both the Radiation Shielding and Criticality Safety teams, and is looking forward to applying her radioactive waste management training in the Nuclear Characterisation team. It's great to have you with us Haleema!
During her project, Haleema built a MCNP model of a reactor with multiple parameter variations. The criticality for each variation of parameterisation was collected and used for analysis and subsequent training of a machine learning algorithm to create a criticality training tool. She has since been awarded the Fremlin Award by Birmingham University for her dissertation. Congratulations Haleema!!
New Starter - Nathan Chambers
We are happy to announce that Nathan Chambers has joined Cerberus Nuclear following a successful summer placement with the company. During his MSc Placement, Nathan performed an investigation into the effect of localised radiation shield weaknesses on the dose uptake of a self-designed phantom model.
Nathan has been involved in the latest phase of the Bright 3Ts Hospital shielding verification work since starting with the company. He is also supporting a Nuclear Characterisation project, and will be developing his Radiation Shielding skills in the coming weeks alongside continuing his MSc research by producing a guidance note on his findings. Welcome to the team Nathan!
New Starter – Zachary Strangwood
We are pleased to announce that the first new starter of this year’s graduate intake has started with the company. Zachary Strangwood completed his MSc placement with the company this summer. His project consisted of modelling various radiation shielding scenarios with moving sources in MCNP and creating an interpolation engine using Python to calculate mesh tally data for different source positions in these scenarios. We are delighted that Zachary decided to stay on with the company following his Masters project!
Zachary is starting work supporting the Radiation Shielding team, but is looking forward to also supporting Criticality Safety as he progresses along the graduate scheme.
New Starter – Barrie Greenhalgh
We are delighted to welcome Dr Barrie Greenhalgh to Cerberus Nuclear! Barrie is a Radiometric and Nuclear Physicist joining us with 18 years experience in the nuclear industry. He is a MCNP radiation transport specialist, with experience in support of radiometric characterisation, calibration, feasibility and design studies. Until recently, Barrie delivered technical characterisation tasks for a range of Sellafield Ltd customers, including POCO, remediation and plant support operations.
Barrie will be key to the development of our growing Nuclear Characterisation capability, and he will also be building on his expertise by supporting Criticality Safety.
Welcome to the team Barrie!
Cerberus Welcomes Employee Shareholders
January saw the first anniversary of our company EMI share option scheme, which is a government approved way of rewarding employees with share options. We are delighted that some of the team have exercised their options, becoming full shareholders of the company.
“We’re always looking into ways to genuinely recognise and reward our growing team. Sharing ownership of the company seems like a unique benefit that we can offer, and we’re really pleased that so many of the team are invested in the long-term success of the company” – Stewart Hay, Director.
“Personally I’ve always loved the benefits of working for a small technical consultancy. Among these is the financial transparency with company progress and project forecasts. Cerberus Nuclear’s EMI share scheme has taken these benefits to new heights by providing the opportunity for me to invest in the company directly and become a shareholder. The prospect of a nice pay out in future is definitely exciting!” – Sam Hilton, Consultant and Shareholder of Cerberus Nuclear.
Shielding School
Cerberus Nuclear have recruited a number of graduate and early career staff over the last three years, including three new members of the radiation shielding team in September and October last year.
In order to train and maintain SQEP shielding assessors, our very own Peter Evans has been running "Shielding School", which consists of structured training and mentoring sessions to support advanced and early career members of the team along side their project work.
"It is essential that shielding assessors have the background knowledge to put their work into context, and are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the tools available to them." - Peter Evans, Principal Shielding Consultant
The sessions are a mixture of lectures and demonstrations, and the attendees are encouraged to interact presenting challenges and lessons learnt each week. Each part of the Shielding Design Process is covered in detail, highlighting the input, calculations and output requirements for each step. "Homework" tasks for the attendees are set so that everyone has a chance to put the training into practice. This mix of theory and practical training is developing our graduate recruits into well rounded shielding assessors.
"Cerberus's shielding training is ace! It provides a wealth of insight into shielding techniques and best practises all within a friendly and interesting course." - Sam Hilton, attendee
"The feedback we have received within the company has been extremely positive. Having dedicated time within the business for the shielding team to come together, share knowledge and good practice is essential in achieving high standards for our clients. The time and effort put into the course is recognised by all the directors, well done Pete.” - Daniel Cork, Director
New Starter - John Billingsley
Cerberus Nuclear are delighted to announce that John has recently joined the company. John has two years’ experience working on the UKAEA STEP Programme. During this time, he has gained experience with CSG- and CAD-based neutronics calculations, and methods of automated data analysis using Python scripting. Alongside his neutronics experience, John has extensively contributed to software development and to the open-source Monte Carlo code OpenMC.
John is looking to build upon his fusion knowledge in radiation shielding. He is attending mentoring sessions with the other new starters, lead by experience team members, to build upon his current expertise. John is also using his Python skills to support our innovation projects.
