Nuclear Industry Forum

Alan Raymant

Chief Operating Officer, Horizon Nuclear Power

Biography

Alan Raymant is the Chief Operating Office for the nuclear joint venture between E.ON and RWE. He took up his position in August of this year. Alan has over 20 years experience in the Electricity Industry and has held a number of senior management posts in generation, distribution and engineering development and construction. He joined the joint venture from Central Networks where he was Director of Operations and Asset Management. Prior to joining Central Networks in 2003, he was Head of E.ON UK’s Renewables business and led the development of a number of renewable generation projects. Alan is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of both the Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Mark Higson

Chief Executive Nuclear Unit, Department for Energy & Climate Change

Biography

Mark Higson was appointed CEO of the Office for Nuclear Development when it was set up in September 2008. The Office is responsible for implementing nuclear policy, facilitating the development of new nuclear power in the United Kingdom, and advising Ministers the exercise of their regulatory functions in relation to the nuclear industry. Prior to taking up this appointment, Mark was head of the nuclear unit in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and led the team which conducted the consultation on the future of nuclear power leading to the 2008 White Paper on nuclear power.

Mark is a professional administrator whose career has focused on competition and utility regulation, privatisation and the financing of state-owned enterprises. Prior to taking on BERR's nuclear portfolio in September 2006, Mark was deputy CEO at the Shareholder Executive, the organisation responsible for discharging the shareholder role for Government owned businesses, with specific responsibility for Royal Mail, BNFL and UKAEA. He has worked as a regulator in Ofgas (now Ofgem), on a number of privatisations in the electricity and gas sectors and, for a period, in investment banking at Kleinwort Benson.

Mike Tynan

Vice President, UK, Middle East and Egypt, Westinghouse

Biography

Mike Tynan was appointed Vice President for Westinghouse business in the UK, Middle East and Egypt in July 2010 and serves as Chief Executive for Westinghouse UK Limited.

He brings 36 years of nuclear industry experience to this role and was most recently Managing Director of the Westinghouse UK Fuel Business at Springfields.

He has held leadership positions at the key UK nuclear establishments of Sellafield, Springfields and Risley.

Mike is widely recognised as a change leader and has been at the forefront of major changes in the UK, including restructuring of the UK nuclear industry to create site licensed companies for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

Mike is also recognised as an expert in Business to Business service relationships and is dedicated to the development of people within the industry, both as a Director of the UK’s National Skills Academy for Nuclear and through his work with Regional Agencies to further the socio economic development of Central Lancashire.

Robert Davies

Vice President New Build, AREVA

Biography

He spent some 25 years in the Royal Navy, commanding three warships, followed by Budgetary and Planning appointments in the Ministry of Defence. He completed an MBA, and then joined Framatome ANP where he lead on Service, Dismantling and Waste Management in UK, followed by a period as UK Country Director for AREVA NP and now as Vice President for AREVA UK responsible for all new build business development activities.

Duncan Burt

Customer Services Manager, Transmission, National Grid

Biography

Duncan heads up the Customer Services Team within National Grid, Transmission, and is responsible for new and existing connections to the gas and electricity Transmission networks and also some aspects of charging. Duncan joined National Grid in 2000, having previously worked in the pharmaceutical sector for what is now Glaxosmithkline. At National Grid he initially worked as a power system engineer before moving through a number of commercial and regulatory posts, predominantly focussed on electricity transmission, prior to his current role. He is based in Warwick, UK.

Dieter Helm CBE

Professor of Energy Policy, University of Oxford

Biography

Dieter Helm is an economist specialising in utilities, infrastructure, regulation and the environment, and concentrates on the energy, water, broadcasting and transport sectors primarily in Britain and Europe. He is a Professor at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of New College, Oxford. He holds a number of advisory board appointments in Britain and Europe, including Chairman of the Academic Panel, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Chief Advisor to the Polish Roundtable on a Low Carbon Economy. He was a member of the DTI's Sustainable Energy Policy Advisory Board from 2002 to 2007, the Prime Minister's Council of Science and Technology from 2004 to 2007, and the DTI's Energy Advisory Panel from 1993 to 2003.

Dieter is an Associate of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and Associate Editor of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy. His career to date has spanned academia, public policy and business. He has published extensively on economic topics and provides independent advice to companies, public bodies and government. He chairs and leads the Energy Futures Group and the Cross Regulation Group. He is an Honorary Vice President of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

Lady Barbara Judge CBE

Chairman Emeritus, UK Atomic Energy Authority

Biography

Lady Barbara Judge is the former Chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, having been its Chairman from 2004 until 2010.  She is currently Chairman of the UK Pension Protection Fund.  In addition Lady Judge is a Non-Executive Director of Statoil, Chairman of the Energy Institute of University College London, a member of the UAE Advisory Board for the Development of Peaceful Nuclear Energy and the Steering Committee of the Istanbul International Energy and Climate Center at Sabanci University, among others.

In November 2010 Lady Judge was appointed by the Prime Minister as a Business Ambassador for the UK.

Alan McGoff

Policy Lead, Nuclear New Build, Environment Agency

Biography

Alan McGoff leads on new nuclear build in the Environment Agency’s Environment and Business Directorate.  With the Office for Nuclear Regulation, he developed and implemented the regulators’ Generic Design Assessment programme scrutinising new reactor designs.  Alan’s past experience includes regulatory process, including leading development of the Radioactive Substances Regulatory Environmental Principles now in use in the Agency.   He transferred to the Environment Agency at its creation in 1996 from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution where he was site inspector at major industrial and nuclear sites in Suffolk, Essex and Norfolk, including Sizewell B and Bradwell Nuclear Power Stations.  As site inspector at Sizewell B he determined and issued the first radioactive discharge authorisations for the new station.  A physicist, he began his career at BNFL Sellafield, developing, specifying, installing, commissioning and supporting special radiometric instruments for the process plants there.

Steve Kidd

Deputy Director General, World Nuclear Association

Biography

Steve Kidd is Deputy Director General at the World Nuclear Association, the international association for nuclear energy based in London.

His early career was as an industrial economist with leading UK companies, including Rio Tinto and Rover Cars. He practiced as an independent consultant from 1990 onwards and then joined the former Uranium Institute in 1995. He became Director of Strategy & Research when the Institute became the World Nuclear Association in 2001 and assumed his current position in 2010.

He received his bachelors and masters degrees in economics from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge and was the winner of the Adam Smith Prize. He authors many articles on the commercial aspects of nuclear power, is a frequent speaker at conferences and meetings around the world and is the author of the book, “Core Issues – Dissecting Nuclear Power Today”. He is a former Chairman of the Nuclear Engineering Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and organizes and teaches at training courses for nuclear professionals in developing nuclear countries on behalf of the World Nuclear University.

Ian Parker

Manager, Nuclear Regulation Group, Environment Agency

Biography

Ian heads up the northern Nuclear regulation group within the Environment Agency and is responsible for delivering integrated environmental regulation to 14 nuclear sites in the north of England and north Wales. Ian’s key interactions are with UK and international regulators, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the wider nuclear industry.   Prior to his current role Ian has worked in the nuclear power industry in commissioning, chemistry, operations and technical oversight.  He is based in Penrith, UK.

Leon Flexman

Head of Communications, Horizon Nuclear Power

Biography

Leon Flexman is Head of Communications at Horizon Nuclear Power. He manages a team which delivers the communications strategy and corporate identity for the UK nuclear developer, set up by E.ON and RWE. 

• He is responsible for oversight of a range of activities including media relations, stakeholder relations, community engagement and public affairs.
• Leon has worked in communications for 18 years, first with agency Hill and Knowlton, then at RWE npower where he worked for eight years, before becoming one of the first staff at Horizon. Before working in communications, Leon spent short periods working as a journalist for local print and broadcast media. 

Sir Michael Pitt

Chairman, Planning Inspectorate

Biography

Mike graduated from University College London with a first class honours degree in Engineering. During the first half of his career he was involved in the planning, design and construction of transport and other infrastructure in this country and abroad, working for the private and public sectors. He has held senior posts in a variety of local authorities, including Director of Property and Director of Technical Services at Humberside. From 1990 to 2005, he was Chief Executive of Cheshire and Kent County Councils.

More recently, he has worked on a wide range of consultancy assignments, including a year long appointment as independent Chair of the Government's review of the 2007 floods. He has been Chair of a number of other organisations including NHS South West, the General Medical Council's National Revalidation Programme Board, two companies and a charity.

Clive Smith

Director Nuclear Skills, Cogent

Biography

Clive started as an apprentice Control Engineer with the Royal Navy and following a career spanning over 35 years and a variety of roles, was appointed the MoD’s Head of Nuclear Skills. Clive is a Chartered Engineer and his qualifications include a Post Graduate Diploma and an MSc in Nuclear Reactor Technology and Science.

Clive has extensive management experience within nuclear operational and training environments and across Government departments.  Positions included Chief Engineer of operational nuclear plants, Nuclear Safety Regulator and appointments in the Royal Navy, Ministry of Defence, Department of Trade and Industry and in commercial training companies

Dr Alan McLelland

Chief Executive Officer, NAMTEC

Biography

Dr Alan McLelland has been with NAMTEC since January 2011 and took over as CEO in October 2011. Previously he headed up the Yorkshire Forward Advanced Engineering and Materials (AEM) activities. Alan holds a BSc in Materials Technology from Coventry University and a PhD in The Rheology and Semi-Solid processing of Aluminium Alloys and Composites from the University of Sheffield. During this period he spent some months at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA undertaking joint research in the rheology field. Alan has worked for Lucas, LuK and the University of Sheffield.

Dug Harrison

Regional Manager for South East & East, National Skills Academy for Nuclear

Biography

Dug Harrison was appointed as Regional Manager Southeast/East for the National Skills Academy for Nuclear in December 2011 having spent the previous 8 years in a similar role with the ECITB.

With over 30 years experience in Engineering, the last 13 being in Training & Development, Dug has built up a wealth of knowledge across a wide range of industries including Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, Renewables and Nuclear.

One of Dug’s priorities is to help organisations implement the Nuclear Skills Passport which has been developed with industry consultation to provide the sector with a standardised approach to skills development and recognition, ensuring the strictest security and highest training standards possible.

Mike Robbins

Principal, Bridgwater College

Biography

Mike recently became Principal of Bridgwater College in Somerset, having been its Vice Principal for 15 years, and after a career totalling 33 years in the further education sector. 

The College has been designated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted since 2002 and currently works with more than 2,000 employers, including Rolls Royce, Ford, Morrisons and Mulberry Design Ltd.  It is also the South West Hub of the National Skills Academy and has been working in partnership with EDF Energy to support the Skills Agenda for existing and Nuclear New Build. This has included the development and operation of new centres for Energy Skills, Civil Engineering and Construction Skills in partnership with EDF Energy and the development of plans for an EDF Energy Corporate Training Centre. 

Malcolm Grimston

Associate Fellow, Energy Environment & Development Programme, Chatham House

Biography

Educated at Scarborough College and Magdalene, Cambridge, graduating in 1979 having read Natural Sciences and specialised in psychology.  He worked as a chemistry teacher before joining the Atomic Energy Authority in 1987.  In 1995 he joined Imperial College as a Senior Research Fellow and in 1999 became a Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House, where he is now an Associate Fellow, conducting an investigation into the future of civil nuclear energy.  He is a regular media contributor on energy and nuclear matters.  Among his publications are two books co-written with the late Peter Beck: Double or Quits – the global future of civil nuclear energy and

Civil nuclear energy – fuel of the future or relic of the past? 

His latest paper, Electricity – social service or market commodity was published in July 2010; previously he published a study looking at the differences between the political and technical mindsets and how this impacts on major industries such as nuclear energy (available at http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/pdf/research/sdp/Dec05nuclear.pdf), and he is currently part of a consortium including Manchester, Southampton and City Universities carrying out a government-funded project on sustainable nuclear energy.  He is an elected Member of Wandsworth Council and until 2009 had executive responsibility for environment and leisure.

Tim Knowles

Chairman, West Cumbria, Managing Radioactive Waste Safely

Biography

Tim Knowles is the Cumbria County Councillor holding the Cabinet portfolio for Transport & Environment; he is also responsible for Nuclear Issues. He is a member of the Labour Party

He is currently Chairman of West Cumbria's Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership, which is discussing the issue of deep geological disposal with Government.

He is also chairman of the Local Government Association's Nuclear Legacy Advisory Forum (NuLeaf), a group of over 100 Local Authorities concerned with Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste issues.

He was one of the principal creators of Britain's Energy Coast West Cumbria, the body charged with delivery of the Energy Coast Masterplan and Regeneration in West Cumbria and was the first Chairman of that organization.

He spent twenty years with British Nuclear Fuels holding the posts of Works Secretary at Sellafield and Head of Corporate Affairs for the PLC. His main areas of responsibility were Government, political and stakeholder relations, together with administration and services management.

He left BNFL in 1996 to be the first Director of Westlakes Science Park, a part nuclear industry/Government/ E U funded project in West Cumbria.

He was founding Chairman of Cumbria CBI and a member of its Regional and National Councils. He has worked as a consultant for UK Government, in conjunction with the U. S. Government, on non proliferation/G8 activities in the former Soviet Union.

Professor Peter Storey

Nuclear Policy and Regulation, The University of Central Lancashire

Biography

After a career of 35 years in the UK’s Safety Regulator the Health and Safety Executive, I joined the Dalton Nuclear Institute at The University of Manchester as Professor of Nuclear Policy and Regulation.  In this post at Dalton I have drawn upon 18 years of experience working within the Nuclear Regulator, The Office of Nuclear Regulation where I had responsibilities covering nuclear safety research, communications, radiation protection and strategy. 

At Manchester I have been taking a lead on training development, Euratom research and a range of nuclear policy related research issues covering skills, research, safety and security.  Currently I am involved in three EC funded collaborative projects, TRASNUSAFE covering the development of Safety Culture training programmes, ERASMUS covering the development of a Nuclear Security Masters programme and SARGEN IV covering the development of research needs for next generation nuclear reactors.  I teach on the Mechanical Engineering (with Nuclear) course and a Waste postgraduate course.  I also lead on a range of national and international collaborations with BIS and UK companies on behalf of the Dalton Nuclear Institute.

Jonathan Green

Principal, Europe Economics

Biography

Jonathan Green, Principal Consultant at Europe Economics, is a regulatory economist with a substantial track record in developing policy and strategy at a senior level in Government and the private sector. He has been closely involved for much of his career in the application of competition policy and the development of utility regulation. He has over 20 years' experience of the development of the UK electricity market from both a public and private sector perspective.

Jim Smyllie

Director, Delivering with Communities, Natural England

Biography

Jim joined Natural England from Defra in January 2006 as Transition Director. In 2007 he was appointed Executive Director for Regional Delivery, and then in 2010 Executive Director, Delivering with Communities, when he was responsible for the delivery of land use functions, land management schemes and local biodiversity and access. On 1 June this year he became Executive Director - People, Landscape and Biodiversity. He is responsible for delivery of Natural England’s work on access, engagement, landscape and biodiversity, the development of Standards and frameworks which inform and shape its local delivery, and for the organisation’s internal and external communications.

In Defra, Jim founded and led the Delivery Strategy Team which created the framework for the department’s relationships with all its delivery bodies. Prior to this, he was Head of Planning at the then Lord Chancellor’s Department, and Director of Corporate Strategy in the MOD’s Defence Secondary Care Agency, where he led major programmes to transfer military hospitals into partnership with the NHS. His earlier career included a decade in the NHS in a variety of senior service management and commissioning roles, several years in the independent sector, and work in the arts.

Dr Brian Murphy

Head of Academic Development, University of Salford

Biography

Brian has recently joined the University of Salford in a university-wide role as Head of Academic Development, i.e. in learning & teaching, research & innovation, enterprise & engagement, and internationalisation. As this role is firmly embedded in HR Development, Brian’s previous career history in workforce development, particularly for the nuclear industry is highly relevant.

Brian has served on a range of national and international expert advisory panels and has been party to international HR Development publications in this area. Examples such as OECD-NEA (Ad Hoc Expert Group on Education Training and Knowledge Management),1 European Human Resource Observatory (Senior Advisory Group - Nuclear), EU DG Employment, UK HE Subject Centres for Bioscience and Physical Science, the National HE STEM Programme.

Brian’s most recent career history includes five years as an executive Director of Cogent - the UK Sector Skills Council for the Nuclear Industry. (Cogent is a licensed labour market research and standard setting body for workforce skills and qualifications). Key responsibilities of Brian’s included leading the Council’s interests in (market) Research and Higher Education. Achievements in this area for Cogent have been: the influential and widely cited ‘Renaissance Series’ of skills publications for the Nuclear industry: Power People;2 Next Generation;3 Assurance;4 Illuminations;5 the £3m national workforce development project Working Higher;4 and the Nuclear Constructionarium project.6

Prior to joining Cogent, Brian spent twenty-five years in the higher education sector was Head of an academic department and led one of the largest workforce development schemes in science in the UK. Brian’s early career spanned PhD research on chemical mimicry of biological processes and research with international chemicals company ICI and the Australian mining sector, looking at clean extraction of metals from ores.

Brian has approaching one hundred papers in subject research, learning and teaching, and labour market research.

1. OECD NEA (2012) Nuclear Education and Training: From Concern to Capability.

2. Cogent (2009) http://www.cogent-ssc.com/research/renaissance_i.php

3. Cogent (2010) http://www.cogent-ssc.com/research/renaissanceII.php

4. Cogent (2011) http://www.cogent-ssc.com/research/nuclearresearch.php

5. Cogent (2012) http://www.cogent-ssc.com/working-higher/

6. Cogent (2011) http://www.cogent-ssc.com/Higher_level_skills/ni_index.php