Dr Peter Gill, a structural integrity specialist with Amec Foster Wheeler’s Clean Energy business, collected a prestigious prize at the Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT) conference.
Peter’s paper, ‘A method to assess impact damage using a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics and Finite Element coupled approach’, won the Early Career Award for those who joined the nuclear industry less than ten years ago.
The paper proposes a new method for calculating the indirect consequences of any loss of coolant accident and is particularly applicable to pressurised water reactors.
“I feel very honoured,” said Peter, 28, who already has the next SMiRT gathering in South Korea in his diary, when he will be presenting another paper.
Amec Foster Wheeler sponsored Peter on his nuclear engineering doctorate at the University of Manchester’s Dalton Institute and he joined the company full-time in January 2014.
It is very pleasing that Peter has received this recognition so early in his career. It augurs well for the future of the business that we are attracting so many talented graduates to join us and build rewarding careers in the nuclear industry.
SMiRT is the only international event dedicated to the application of structural mechanics methods to reactor technology and has been a fixture on the nuclear industry calendar for five decades.
The biennial conference regularly attracts a large audience of industry practitioners, researchers, vendors, utilities and regulators. It is one of the most prestigious and highly focused gatherings of its kind and has a long history of success in promoting international best practice.
Amec Foster Wheeler was a gold sponsor of the 23rd conference, held at The Lowry in Salford, and staff members presented 14 papers.
On the opening day, David Boath, Vice President – Project Delivery at Amec Foster Wheeler’s Clean Energy Business, gave a leadership talk entitled ‘Nuclear sustainability through collaboration’. It was well received and this theme reverberated throughout the conference.
Professor Prinja chaired a plenary session on Small Modular Reactors, made presentations in two panel sessions – ‘New build and harmonisation of codes and standards’ and ‘Engineering analysis and simulation competency in the nuclear sector’, and presented a technical paper.