The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Neil Smart, Science Director in our Radioactive Waste Management Directorate has been appointed to the prestigious post of Visiting Professor in the Department of Materials at Imperial College London.

Rated amongst the world's best universities, Imperial College is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research. The Department of Materials is the oldest and largest department of its kind in the UK. It has internationally-leading research programmes in the synthesis, processing, and modelling of a broad range of materials (metals, ceramics, semiconductors, glasses, ceramic-matrix composites, polymers and functional materials) directed to diverse applications such as nuclear, solid oxide fuel cells, aerospace, biomedical, automotive, communications and electronics.

Neil, whose appointment is honorary and unpaid, has been involved with Imperial for six years. Initially he was a member of their departmental external advisory committee and for the last four years has been chair of that committee. He is also involved in teaching, supporting the Nuclear Engineering Masters’ course where he delivers a course on Geological Disposal of Higher Activity Wastes.

Speaking about his appointment, Neil said:

”I am delighted and honoured to be given this opportunity to work with the high calibre staff at Imperial College. I intend to develop interactions with both the materials department and the broader University staff, where there are opportunities that are mutually beneficial to both NDA and Imperial. In the short term this will involve providing a number of Masters’ research project scopes that are of interest to us in the Radioactive Waste Management Directorate, and are achievable by students at this level.”

”In the medium term I would like to develop a much stronger involvement in the Engineering Doctorate scheme, which is a programme funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to support postgraduate students to carry out projects of industrial relevance,” he added.

In 2010 Neil was appointed Science Director of the Radioactive Waste Management Directorate where he is responsible for providing leadership in meeting our needs to expand the knowledge base to support implementation of geological disposal of the UK’s higher activity radioactive wastes.

Prior to his current role, Neil was Head of Research for the NDA’s corporate research programme from 2005 to 2008. This followed various technical roles within the research and operating divisions of BNFL from 1991 to 2005. Neil joined the nuclear industry following a post-doctoral position at Texas A&M University working in the field of corrosion science. He has a BSc in Applied Chemistry, a PhD in Corrosion Science and an MSc in Technology Management. Neil is also a visiting faculty member at the University of Idaho.