Events

NIRO members Gary Bolton and Mike Waite spent a great couple of days at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris, getting the opportunity to catch up with some NIRO alumnus too! The sizeable event was attended by nuclear industry colleagues from around the globe. Happy to engage with industry colleagues from the USA, Poland, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Slovenia, etc., and of course our strong U.K. delegation plus the Wales Nuclear Forum.

Two NIRO representatives, James Paul and Gary Bolton attended the Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR) project annual meeting of the Fuel, Technology and Materials working groups. The meeting was hosted by UKAEA and took place at the Culham Science Centre in the UK. The working groups support the JHR project by defining and planning the future R&D programmes that will utilise the capabilities of JHR. They ensure the reactor’s experimental activities meet the specific needs of the consortium members R&D requirements.
As part of the meeting there was the opportunity for a tour of several facilities including JET (the Joint European Torus), the RACE Laboratory (Remote Applications in Challenging Environments) remote handling and robotics test facility and the MRF (Materials Research Facility) which is a specialist laboratory for sample preparation and characterisation of radioactive materials supporting both fission and fusion research.

NIRO attended the recent Autumn 2025 meeting of the Generation IV International (GIF) in Busan, South Korea, for a week of discussions on Gen IV nuclear reactors. Steve Napier and Gary Bolton represent the UK on the GIF Expert Group and provide support to DESNZ colleagues on the Policy Group. Gary Bolton provided an update on the strong collaboration between GIF and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

NIRO was pleased to participate in the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Roadmaps to New Nuclear event, which brought together over 300 delegates!

As the incoming Chair of the NEA Nuclear Science Committee,  Daniel Mathers was a member of the panel for breakout session 3: ‘Closing the Nuclear Fuel Cycle – Drivers and challenges’. Where Dan outlined the work of the NEA Science community in strategies for managing nuclear waste.

NIRO’s Gary Bolton was invited to provide the opening address focusing on UK nuclear policy landscape at the Northern Nuclear Alliance Innovation through the Nuclear Lifecycle event in Manchester. There was a wide range of speakers covering topics such as AMR end use cases including Nuclear-enabled Sustainable Aviation Fuel, fuel innovations and cross-cutting topics such as AI and robotics. There was a great energy in the room demonstrating the strength of the sector in the North.

Alongside representatives from Academia, United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory and the Nuclear Institute, NIRO attended a meeting with the French High Commissioner for Nuclear in the French Ambassador’s residence in London. At the visit we briefed  on areas where NIRO were contributing to the delivery of the UK’s ambitious nuclear strategy and advised on the initiatives being taken to underpin the UK’s readiness for the net zero ambitions and targets. We also discussed ways the UK and France could collaborate on delivery of our shared nuclear ambitions in research, development and innovation of Giga Watt, SMR and AMR technologies.

NIRO was very excited to participate in the 40th Annual Waste Management and Decommissioning Summer School at Cambridge University. NIRO’s Olivia Thompson was kept busy, contributing to panel a session on whether excellence in regulatory oversight is best achieved through strict compliance or flexible innovation, alongside leading lectures on:

• Civil Political Landscape and the Impact of Nuclear Policy on Research and Development Trends in Waste Management of Decommissioning
• Nuclear Decommissioning: Challenges, Innovations & the Sellafield Case

This one-day conference focused on the opportunities for maritime uses of nuclear, including Floating Nuclear Power Plants (FNPP) and nuclear propulsion for commercial vessels. NIRO participated in this event to expand our knowledge on the challenges and work required in the technical and regulatory arenas as well as the potential global opportunity for the UK as a sea-faring and mature nuclear nation. This topic is gathering more momentum with the IAEA launching its ATLAS (Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications and Sea) this year which aims to create a framework for the deployment of new nuclear power options for maritime uses.

NIRO attended the MTC inaugural Nuclear Manufacturing Conference, where attendees were able to to meet suppliers, (large and small) across so many specialisms and hear about the opportunities new nuclear programmes are generating.

NIRO attended the very interesting OECD Nuclear Energy Agency International Conference on Excellence in Nuclear Construction. Following on from exciting nuclear newbuild news in the U.K., the conference underlines the necessity to benchmark against other international nuclear programmes and benefit from global lessons learned.

NIRO was given a tour of the MTC facility in Coventry. It was great to hear about how they work with the UK’s manufacturing supply chain; accelerating development of advanced manufacturing technologies through new innovations and using their expertise to train the next generation workforce.

NIRO’s Olivia Thompson joined a panel session at the Nuclear Strategy “Enhancing the Nuclear Economy Conference” at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. Alongside other colleagues from industry. The panel discussed energy affordability and market reforms, public perception and engagement, policy and planning as well as supply chain and workforce readiness. It was a fabulous day of insightful and engaging conversation.

Gary Bolton from NIRO was delighted to be a member of the judging and discussion panel for the Nuclear Institute Young Generation Network Innovate for Nuclear competition held in Manchester.  All four finalists presented fascinating presentations, with the winning team from Assystem presenting a floating nuclear power plant coupled to water desalination. Congratulations to the winners and wishing them success at the I4N European Final in Zagreb in June.

NIRO attended the Energy Technology Live event at the NEC, Birmingham. The event showcased UK’s leading energy innovations. It was a great opportunity for energy users, developers and industry to discuss future flexible energy strategies.

NIRO, with DESNZ, Welsh Government and GB Nuclear representatives attended the annual Wales Nuclear Forum St. David’s Day business members and guests dinner in Cardiff – an excellent evening of networking and nuclear industry positive thinking!

NIRO was delighted to support various sessions at Nuclear Week in Parliament this year, which highlighted the breadth of nuclear opportunities in the U.K. and diversity of skills and capabilities across the regions.

NIRO’s Dan Mathers and Sasha Wynn Davies  were delighted to have taken part in the ‘SATURN-GREEN UKRI CDT Winterschool’ in York. Dan gave a keynote speech on the UK nuclear policy framework and NIRO’s role therein. Whilst Sash  was on the panel discussing ‘Is Nuclear fundamental to achieving the UK’s Net Zero targets ?’ Both enjoyed taking part, meeting and answering some thought provoking questions from the talented PhD students present – an excellent session.

In November 2024, NIRO was kindly invited to tour the engineering, chemistry and physics laboratories at Bristol University. As Bristol University is the home of the South West Nuclear Hub, NIRO was also offered the chance to present at a South West Nuclear Hub seminar where the findings of the NIRAB HTGR Report were discussed.

NIRO supported DESNZ in the seminars and bilateral discussions at the IAEA SMR Conference, in Vienna, 21st-25th October. The conference brought together global nuclear industry and government stakeholders to discuss technological readiness, regulatory frameworks, market potential, supply chains, international cooperation and how SMRs can play a key role in energy transitions.

In October 2024, NIRO was given the chance to present our thoughts on the Civil Nuclear Landscape and RD&I challenges facing High Temperature Gas Reactors at the Advanced Nuclear Reactor Design conference – an interesting and thought-provoking event!

NIRO participated in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference, where a couple of days were spent having very insightful discussions on nuclear.

In August, 2024 NIRO supported DESNZ in facilitating the UK-US Action Plan,  leading to 5 days of insightful discussions.

In July 2024, NIRO’s Executive Director, Dan Mathers, presented at the Royal Society and French Academie des Sciences event on the direction of government funded research in the UK on advanced reactors, the opportunity to develop a High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) demonstrator and progress towards this.

NIRO’s Senior Strategic Advisor, Olivia Thompson, was invited to speak on the panel at the Women in Nuclear UK Conference to discuss ‘Skills for the future and opportunities in nuclear’. Alongside representatives from the Ministry of Defence, DESNZ, Destination Nuclear, Nuclear Skills Delivery Group and Nuclear Institute Young Generation Network, to discuss the need to implement meaningful changes now and the necessity to grow a diverse workforce to meet the 24 GW by 2050 target.

In April 2024, NIRO was given a tour of the fascinating UKAEA Fusion Technology Facility in Rotherham, where we saw first-hand the multi-load test facility CHIMERA.

In April 2024 NIRO had a very interesting visit to Sheffield Forgemasters. We had the privilege to see the impressive electron-beam welding machines and learn of the progress/advancements it can make in the nuclear sector.

March was a busy month for NIRO, on the 15th March NIRO funded the ‘Post-graduate of the Year’ award at the National Skills Academy for Nuclear Awards. The following week NIRO supported Racial Equality in Nuclear (REiN) in their nomination for ‘Outstanding Employee Network’ at the British Diversity Awards.

In January 2024, NIRO supported a DESNZ-led visit to Japan with the aim to provide insight for the future deployment of High Temperature Gas Reactors (HTGRs) in the UK. HTGRs are currently the preferred option for Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs) in the UK – why the HTGR is favoured and how it may be implemented has been covered by NIRAB in their paper Research, Development and Innovation required for a High Temperature Gas Reactor Demonstrator.

Japan is home to one of the few operational HTGRs in the world; the High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR) operated by JAEA. The visit enabled discussions on the operational history and future plans for the HTTR, experiences around regulating HTGRs and comparisons of the regulatory regimes  in the UK and Japan.