Submitted by Kate Graham on Thu, 08/09/2016 - 12:07
From the 27th to the 30th of July 2016, two of the Nuclear Energy MPhil students, Kinjal Dave and Thomas Zillhardt, with the support of the Engineering Department and their respective colleges, participated in the Atoms For The Future conference in Paris, a four day event dedicated to young engineers and scientists in nuclear energy. The first one and a half days were dedicated to presentations from top nuclear energy leaders such as AREVA CEO on MoX fuel, Westinghouse Senior Vice President on decommissioning and EDF Deputy Director for nuclear production on the Grand Carénage, amongst others. They were also able to present their respective works on nuclear waste during two 20 minutes technical sessions in front of a panel of 20 specialists, and get valuable feedback. 
Furthermore, they participated to the EPiC (Elevator Pitch Challenge), a 3 minute presentation in front of 200 experts, Thomas won the first prize, proudly representing the MPhil and the Department. Several technical visits were available, and they chose to visit the ANDRA intermediate and low level repository sites. They were able to observe how nuclear waste management was done in France, and what were the issues faced by the technologies chosen. Particularly, they have been able to understand the design features of the repositories and observe the scale of such projects. The last day was spent at the World Nuclear Exhibition, where professionals present the newest technologies on the market. This conference was of great value for their research and technical background in nuclear engineering, and allowed them to network with specialists from around Europe.
They wish to express their gratitude to the Department of Engineering, Darwin College, Peterhouse and the Bruckmann Fund for their support.