Warrington, England, United Kingdom
Andrew is a chartered physicist with over twenty years’ experience in the nuclear industry. He is an experienced Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA) practitioner with a strong track record in technical project management. He has experience and expertise in safety case development and production for the existing and new build nuclear power stations. Andrew is PSA and Safety Analysis Capability Lead for AtkinsRéalis.
Rebranding of Atkins (and the parent company SNC Lavalin) to AtkinsRéalis. Providing nuclear safety case and PSA support where needed to the business. Leading AtkinsRéalis’ UK PSA Capability. Specifically; • PSA Lead Support for Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd. This is a seconded role requiring supporting the client's PSA team and supply chain partners, maintaining the relationship with the regulator in this technical area as the project goes through Office of Nuclear Regulation Generic Design Assessment and helping to embed PSA into the concept system design to risk inform the reactor plant design. • Mobilesed and supporting AtkinsRéalis UK PSA team delivering CANDU PSA work. • Mobilised and supporting AtkinsRéalis PSA team delivering Rolls-Royce Submarines PSA work.
Providing nuclear safety case and PSA support where needed to the business. Leading Atkins’ PSA capability. Specifically; • Technical lead on the development of a Gantry Crane PSA for one of the docks at the Devonport Royal Dockyard (2023). • Seconded to the Sizewell C Power Station Safety Case Team producing the Pre-Construction Safety Report (PCRS) for the new power station being planned for the Suffolk coast (2021-23).
• Provided PSA support to a Maintenance Optimisation project for the Nawah Energy Company in United Arab Emirates for the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant (2022). • Production of a Licence Summary Statement for a design change related to the start-up sequences of the Hinkley Point C reactor cooling chain (RIS, RRI and SEC systems) following Loss Of Offsite Power (2021). • Co-production of the Hinkley Point C Electrical Safety Case documentation supporting the Pre-Commissioning Safety Report for the Hinkley Point C being built in Somerset. Work on the Electrical Architecture Intermediate Document which is a supporting document to the Safety Case (2021) and completion of two System Substantiation Summary Documents (S3D). • Production of a technical note justifying the reliability of the Control Rod Drive Mechanisms release function for the Rolls-Royce Neptune test reactor in Derby (2021).
Andrew has experience of Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors (AGRs) and Hinkley Point C Power Station (HPC) in the areas of nuclear safety cases and Probabilistc Safety Analysis (PSA). Nuclear New Build Safety Case Experience • Part of a team producing supporting documents for the HPC Pre-Commissioning Safety Report (PCmSR) on the electrical systems (2020). • Safety case support to Independent Technical Assessment (ITA) of the Pre-Construction Safety Reports (PCSR) for HPC (2017-2018). AGR Safety Case Experience • Author of the Hartlepool and Heysham A 3-reactor weakened fuel safety case (2018-2020). • Part of a small team conducting a review Heysham B and Torness Safety Case compliance against the client's Nuclear Safety Principles (2018). • Author of a minor Heysham B and Torness safety case looking at changes in fuel condition due to carbon deposit (2017). AGR PSA Experience Andrew has extensive experience on all aspects of these PSA models and their associated documentation in various roles as originator, verifier, technical lead and project manager, including: • Work on all aspects of the Heysham B and Torness PSA models since 2011. • Work on all aspects of the Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B PSA models since 2012. • Work on all aspects of the Hartlepool and Heysham A PSA models since 2015. • Ad-hoc work on the Dungeness B PSA model since 2012. • Project management of major updates of the Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B PSA and then Hartlepool and Heysham A PSA models (2014 and 2016/17). PSA Research Project Experience • Verifier of reports looking at changes to the methods for assessing Common Cause Failure (CCFs) in the AGR PSA models (2015-2016). • Verifier of reports looking at updating the versions of the PSA models used for the Heysham B and Torness station risk monitors (2015). • Part of a small team developing a Pilot Level 2 PSA for Hunterston B Power Station in line with international best practice - a first of a kind for the UK (2013)
Engaged on work for Rolls‐Royce Naval Marine, Derby. Providing support on two projects on safety case development and strategy for the current fleet of boats. The first project was to develop a document that specified the Quality Assurance (QA) standards and requirements for classification and categorisation of all components and systems of the nuclear propulsion unit. This work allowed Rolls‐Royce to target safety resource on the critical nuclear safety systems, while applying a more pragmatic approach to the QA requirements for non‐critical nuclear safety systems. The second project was to finalise and present a set of safety functional requirements for the nuclear propulsion units. This involved working closely with operationally experienced individuals, to fully address client comments on the safety functional requirements, incorporating changes and presenting a rationalised set to the client.
Work for British Energy Generation Ltd.’s Dungeness B and Hinkley Point B Nuclear Power Stations; several projects providing transient analysis of reactor faults incorporating Boiler Tube Leakage and Depressurisation fault scenarios. Work for Magnox North Ltd.’s graphite research programme, providing analytical assessments of in‐core graphite weight loss predictions. Project management of several projects during this period, including; tendering, costing, planning as well as performing the technical work and reporting results. All work was carried out to meet both the clients’ and Frazer‐Nash’s high standards for quality and technical integrity.