ThorEA - Towards an Alternative Nuclear Future.pdf

William J. Nuttall is a University Senior Lecturer in Technology Policy at the University of Cambridge. In 1987 he won a
Fulbright Post-Graduate Student Award to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study for a PhD in physics awarded
in 1993. Returning to the UK he took two post doctoral research positions in large-facility physics using x-ray and neutron
scattering to study phase transitions in diverse systems including actinide magnets. In 1997 Dr Nuttall moved to the London
headquarters of the Institute of Physics where he later became Manager, Policy. At the IOP he worked on a wide range of
physics-based policy issues including energy. In early 2002 he moved to Cambridge University to be founding Course Director
for a new Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI) sponsored master’s degree in Technology Policy. He holds a shared post between
Judge Business School, where he is based, and Cambridge University Engineering Department. He is the author of the book
Nuclear Renaissance (Taylor & Francis 2005), co-editor of the book Future Electricity Technologies and Systems (CUP 2006),
co-editor of a special issue of the journal Progress in Nuclear Energy concerning long-term management options for separated
civil plutonium (2007). Dr Nuttall has a leading role in the ESRC Electricity Policy Research Group. He has assisted the UK
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and the International Energy Agency. He has given oral evidence on nuclear
power to the UK House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee.
Hywel Owen is a Lecturer in Physics at the University of Manchester, with 15 years experience in the design, construction, and
operation of particle accelerators. He was a co-designer of the DIAMOND storage ring – the largest accelerator facility in the
UK, and successfully operating since 2006 – and has been closely involved in the accelerator design of every light source facility
planned or built in the UK (SRS, 4GLS, ALICE, and the New Light Source). He presently sits on the committees of the Particle
Accelerators and Beams Group and Chartered Physicist Review Panel of the Institute of Physics, and has been chief editor of the
European Particle Accelerator Conference.
Geoff Parks is a University Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Engineering in the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University.
He received his BA in Engineering from the University of Cambridge in 1984 and his PhD in Nuclear Engineering in 1989. He was
subsequently elected to a Research Fellowship at Jesus College, Cambridge, and then became a Senior Research Associate at
Cambridge University Engineering Department, funded by Nuclear Electric plc. He became a University Lecturer at the start of
1996. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in January 2004. Dr Parks heads the Computational Design Group in the Cambridge
Engineering Design Centre, which researches into the application of advanced optimisation methods to difficult real-world
problems in a wide variety of application areas including aerodynamic, nuclear and structural engineering, in the development
and application of multi-objective optimisation methods, and in the effective exploitation and integration of optimisation
methods within the Engineering Design process. Dr Parks has long-standing interests in nuclear reactor operation and control
with particular expertise in in-core fuel management, and helped develop the code used by British Energy to design reload
cores for Sizewell B. He has more recently developed interests in the use of accelerator driven systems for waste transmutation
and power generation and in gas turbine based power generation cycles.
Steven Steer is a fundamental nuclear physicist; he earned his PhD researching at the University of Surrey in coordination with
international programs at world-leading accelerator facilities for the study of heavy-nuclei. He served 2 years as a member of
the Institute of Physics nuclear physics group committee. He is currently a research associate at the University of Cambridge
Engineering Department and a member of the Electricity Policy Research Group, where he is evaluating ADSR technology with
consideration of both technology and economics.
A report prepared by: the thorium energy amplifier association 71