Ed will be presenting at this year's Advanced Nuclear Reactor Design conference, to join the presentations and networking, simply visit the event website.
Please briefly explain your role, involvement, and experience with the nuclear industry
Ed Hawkes (EH): My role as Design Authority Manager at newcleo is focused on building the company’s UK design authority capability in support of a future Nuclear Site Licence application for the deployment of our Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) technology in the UK. My main focus currently is, with the design authority team, helping our global engineering organisation develop the LFR design in line with UK regulatory expectations and working with our French licensing colleagues to ensure we maintain a consistent approach to demonstrating the safety of our design in both countries.
Since April I have also been leading newcleo’s UK Engineering team as part of our Global LFR Engineering organisation, building out the specialist science and engineering skills we need to deliver our designs and deploy them in the UK.
Prior to joining newcleo, I spent my career in the submarine programme, firstly as a civil servant, and latterly with Jacobs providing Independent Nuclear Safety Assurance.
What is the top challenge facing your industry at present?
EH: For the UK nuclear industry, I would say it’s the need for a clear pathway for developers to get their designs deployed and into operation. We have an aspiration as a country to deliver 24GW of nuclear power by 2050, but there are significant hurdles to delivering that – for developers being able to get through the relevant licensing, permitting and consenting activities as efficiently as possible to reach an investment decision and get spades in the ground is critical to helping reach the 24GW goal.
How would you say your industry has evolved over the past five years?
EH: The major change in the industry for me over the last five years is huge growth in job opportunities available across a range of technologies. When I graduated, Hinkley Point C was the main new build opportunity in the UK, whereas now we have a range of different developers and technologies across both fission and fusion, looking to develop and deploy their designs, so it’s a really exciting time to be involved in the industry. We’ve recently welcomed our second cohort of graduates into the company, and it’s been great to help provide some of those opportunities for new entrants to the industry.
What developments are going on in your industry that may have an impact on the development of future nuclear reactor design?
EH: It’s an obvious one, but AI will have a major impact on the industry in the next 5 years. As designs, and the supporting analyses and justifications, increase in complexity the demand on engineering resource will increase as well, so maximising the use of AI tools to ease this burden will be essential. It’s an area that needs close collaboration between regulators and industry to ensure AI is employed in an appropriate way, however.
What will you be presenting at the ‘Advanced Nuclear Reactor Design’ event and how will this benefit participants?
EH: I’ll be talking about our progress to-date in licensing our LFR design and some of the lessons from that so far, with a particular focus on the opportunities and challenges of licensing Advanced Nuclear Technologies. I think it’s really important for ANT/AMR developers to engage and collaborate on licensing activities to help ensure consistency where possible across technologies and geographies, so I’m excited to have the opportunity to talk about newcleo’s experiences so far.
Which other speakers, presentations or topics are you looking forward to hearing at the forthcoming seminar?
EH: I’m looking forward to hearing from the other AMR developers on how they are tackling some of their key design challenges, and also the updates on the fusion projects – there’s some technological overlaps between AMRs and fusion, so I’m interested to understand their perspectives on developing and delivering their designs.
Why is it important for engineers and industry to come together at this event and share best practice?
EH: These events are a great opportunity to understand the latest developments in the nuclear sector and share different approaches to tackling the challenges that we collectively face as an industry.
This year's Advanced Nuclear Reactor Design conference will take place on 1-2 October 2024 in Manchester
The conference is a key forum for all technical innovators, manufacturers, designers, and government regulators involved to meet, discuss technical developments and share updates on the latest AMR and SMR projects in the UK and abroad.
Join the 2024 conference and examine how engineers are addressing key engineering challenges, including nuclear criticality safety, data analysis and fault detection, fuel development, and production routes.
For the full agenda and to register to join the discussions at this year's event, please visit the event website.