Pressure Systems Group: How we are governed

Pressure Systems Group (PSG) is the natural home for UK engineers working in the pressure systems, vessels and piping sectors.

Pressure Systems Group Board

PSG's affairs are led by a Board comprised of members and representatives of organisations that partner the group in its various activities, including company directors, distinguished academics, senior engineers, managers and consultants.

In addition to organising an annual programme of events, Board members represent the Institution and UK on various national and international committees.

Dr Paul Smith - Chair

Paul Smith (Chairman) 210Structural Integrity Specialist – Nuclear New Build, Wood Nuclear
Paul is a chartered engineer with core skills in the development and application of nuclear codes and standards, in particular ASME Section III and RCC-M.

As Head of Profession for Structural Integrity and Materials at Wood Nuclear (formerly AMEC Foster Wheeler), Paul is responsible for developing the profession both internally and externally. 

While working in the Nuclear New Build Team, Paul’s technical work has focused on the development of regimes for the application of codes and standards, and the independent inspection and design assessment of nuclear pressure equipment for the UK.

Paul has a background in stress analysis, previously working in the Structural Integrity Team at Amec Foster Wheeler, where he was responsible for the design and analysis of engineering structures, systems and components, production of design justification reports, and presentation of results to clients. This also involved experience of bidding for, and working on, large complex multidisciplinary projects.

Paul participates in several national and international committees for nuclear pressure equipment and regularly publishes work on comparisons of international codes, standards and working practices for nuclear pressure equipment.

Charles Byrne - Vice Chair

Charles Byrne 210
Technical Director, Graham Hart Ltd

Simon Emeny - Vice Chair

Simon Emeny CE sitting NIC 2018-03-29 210Global Head of Nuclear, Inspection Services, Lloyd's Register

Simon is the Global Head for Nuclear Inspection Services at Lloyd’s Register (LR).  He is responsible for the strategic direction and implementation of LR’s nuclear business.  Currently Simon is LR Project Director for the Independent Third Party Inspection Agency contracts for Hinkley Point C and Wylfa Newydd in the UK.  He is also the LR technical authority for nuclear supply chain assessment and in-service inspection.

Simon has previously gained ISO 17020 and notified body appointments for LR in a variety of technical areas and most recently gained ISO 17020 for a nuclear scope of inspection from UKAS, the first entity to do so.

Simon graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1992 with an Honours degree in Engineering.  He was elected as a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) in 2014 and is a Chartered Engineer.  Simon is a member of the EU Working Group producing guidelines to the EU Pressure Equipment Directive and is Vice Chairman of the IMechE Pressure Systems Group Board.

Professor David Nash - Vice Chair

David Nash (2016) 210Professor in Mechanical Engineering, University of Strathclyde 

After spending several years with a vessel fabricator, Prof Nash joined the department as a researcher where he gained an MSc and PhD working on local load and saddle support contact problems.

He has interests in bolted joints, buckling and impact analysis and broader applications of finite element design-by-analysis. He has written over 120 papers and six books on the subject.

Professor Nash is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (2006) and has been an ASME member since 1987.

He is Vice Chair of the Pressure Systems Group. He is the former UK national representative to EPERC, the European Pressure Equipment Research Council.

He chairs the British Standards Design Methods committee for PD5500, the UK pressure vessel code and chaired the 13th International Conference on Pressure Vessel Technology ICPVT-13 in London 2012.

Paul Jackson - Past Chair

Paul Jackson 210Inspection Function Leader Inspection, ABB Consulting

A Fellow of the Institution and Past-Chairman of the Pressure Systems Group, Paul has been a board member for more than 20 years. .

Paul started his engineering career at Compair Reavell in Ipswich as an apprentice fitter and graduated six years later with a degree in mechanical engineering from Loughborough University. He joined NNC and worked for nine years on the steam generators for Hartlepool and Heysham nuclear power stations. When these were commissioned Paul joined ICI in 1986 to lead the NW vessels team.

He now works for ABB Consulting who purchased the Engineering department of ICI in 2001. He is the Function Leader of Inspection at ABB Consulting, a UKAS accredited Pressure Systems inspection service and leads ABB's team of Integrity Management team Consultants in the north west.

Asif Ali

Senior Engineering Specialist, Bechtel Limited

Sam Bajomo

Sam Bajomo 210

Senior Mechanical Engineer, Wood plc

Sam is a senior engineer with Wood plc (formerly AMEC Foster Wheeler), where he faces the challenge of designing pressure vessels and heat exchangers to withstand onerous conditions, while meeting client specifications, legislation and good engineering practice.

Sam joined the IMechE Pressure Systems Group (PSG) in Summer 2015, with the aim of applying his creativity, energy and motivation to the vision of the PSG.  He currently support the media and web presence of the PSG and am working to broaden the reach and improve visibility of the PSG within the mechanical engineering community.

Peter Batty

Peter Batty 210 Chief Engineer, LmP Technical Services Limited

Peter has worked in the nuclear industry since 1978, actively engaged in pressure vessel inspection and certification since 1986.

Starting in the industry working for BNFL and the Atomic Energy Authority as a research Engineer and Specialist Inspector, a move to National Vulcan continued Peter’s career in pressure plant inspection and repair.

He is now actively involved in SAFed, as a member of the TC1 Pressure Systems Committee.

Richard Charles

Richard Charles Principal Consultant/Business Manager, Materials Engineering Team, Corrosion & Materials Science, Clean Energy, AMEC

Charles graduated from the University of Abertay Dundee in Mechanical Engineering in 1998 and began employment with AEA Technology (was Serco, now AMEC). Over the years he had been primarily involved in supplying technical solutions for structural and mechanical integrity issues by means of specialised finite element modelling and a range of structural integrity assessments.  This work has assisted a number of organisations including nuclear power generators (both civil and naval), petrochemical plant operators and safety regulators. 

In 2004 Richard was elected a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 

He currently leads a team of structural integrity specialists, providing structural integrity support, as part of AMEC’s Independent Nuclear Assurance (INA) to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine flotilla.  Richard is also involved in other strategically important programmes of work, such as the UK Generic Design Assessment (GDA) on new civil nuclear build.

Simon Earland

Director, Earland Engineering

Andrew Fairhurst

Andy Fairhurst 210

Head of Engineering Audit, Marine & Nuclear, Rolls-Royce plc

Having read mechanical engineering at Cambridge University, Andy joined Rolls-Royce Submarines (formerly Rolls-Royce and Associates) in 1985. 

In his early career, Andy spent time developing his plant and safety case knowledge in a number of design engineering roles covering nuclear pressure vessels design, nuclear plant systems design and nuclear core mechanical design. Latterly, he has moved into Engineering Technical Project Management and is currently Chief Engineer Submarines Programmes. In this role, Andy is accountable to the Ministry of Defence customer as Technical Authority for the Royal Navy submarine Nuclear Steam Raising Plant with responsibility for safe design and operation of the plant on in-service and build submarines.

Andy was elected CEng MIMechE in 2001 and subsequently FIMechE in 2008. Andy is married with two children. His interests outside work cover a range of sports including mountain biking and skiing.

David Glass

David Glass 210Principal Specialist Inspector, Hazardous Installations Directorate, Health & Safety Executive

Duncan Humphrey

Duncan Humphrey (2012) 210Engineering Manager, Asset Integrity and Principal Integrity Engineer, RINA Consulting Limited

Duncan has over 20 years’ experience working on the condition assessment, failure analysis and remaining life evaluation, principally for the power, refining and petrochemical industries.  He has undertaken a wide range of analyses, including fitness for service assessments of static and rotating components, probabilistic and deterministic remaining life assessments of pressure vessels and pipework and forensic engineering assessments as part of litigation cases.

He is experienced in the use of finite element analysis, to quantify stresses from complex loading, as well as mechanical engineering hand calculations, pressure vessel design and fracture mechanics.

 

Sarah Kelly - BSI Representative

Sarah Kelly  Lead Programme Manager, BSI International

Sarah is a Lead Programme Manager at BSI, the UK’s National Standards Body (NSB).  BSI represents UK economic and social interests across all European and international standards organisations, and in the development of business information solutions for British organisations of all sizes and sectors.  

Sarah manages a number of mechanical engineering committees in BSI’s Standards Market Development - Manufacturing sector.  She is national committee secretary for BSI committee PVE/1, pressure vessels, which is responsible for the upkeep and development of the UK’s pressure vessels code PD 5500, as well as mirroring the work of CEN/TC 54 - the European pressure vessels committee.  PVE/1 supports and feeds into the development of the European pressure vessels standard, the BS EN 13445 series, leading two of the European working groups for nickel and titanium vessels.

Duncan Kingan - Young Member Representative

Mechanical Engineer, North Sea Mid Stream, BP / INEOS Capital Limited

Mike Webb

Inspector – Nuclear Safety Office for Nuclear Regulation - Civil Nuclear Reactor Programme

John Wintle

Consultant Engineer, TWI Limited

Lei Zhu

Conformity Assessment Engineer (Technical Lead), MIT, EDF Energy

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