We are excited to invite you to the Advanced Process Modeling Forum for the Nuclear Industry on April 29, 2026.

The talk about nuclear new build has now seen positive action with investment decisions being made and work starting. The need for process modeling will only increase as engineers look for the optimum configuration through “what-if” scenario development. Digitizing design and using models to simulate live plant is the next step. Come see how the use of gPROMS can accelerate your design and deliver value at every stage of the project.

This forum will focus on how digital technologies are being applied within the nuclear and nuclear decommissioning industry to accelerate innovation, reduce risk, and ultimately create value. This forum brings together industry leaders and experts to explore innovative solutions that enhance efficiency, safety, and sustainability. It will also be an opportunity to update attendees on the actions taken by Siemens from the event held in April 2025.

Join us to gain valuable insights, share knowledge, and discover how Siemens’ cutting-edge technologies are shaping the future of nuclear energy.

Event Details:
Date: April 29, 2026
Time: 08:30 - 18:00
Location: The Engine Rooms at Birchwood Park, Warrington, WA3 6YN
Cost: Free

Please register by April 22, 2026

Agenda

08:30   Registration
09:00   Welcome and foreword by Neil Blundell, ONR
09:20   gPROMs: an update - Prof. Dr. Costas Pantelides / Dr. Thomas Lafitte (Siemens)
09:40   Physical properties in gPROMs - Dr. Thomas Lafitte (Siemens)
10:30   Networking break - coffee and tea served
11:00   What’s next for UK civil nuclear: Industry expectations and the political landscape - Millie Beaver (NIA)
11:25   Characterisation and Modelling of Nuclear Material at Sellafield and Fukushima – Dr Stephen Pilditch (United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory)
12:10   Lunch
13:00   Integrated nuclear system process modelling, design, optimization, and control - Frederico Galvanin (University College London)
13:35   Application of Neural Networks in the Optimisation of Ion Exchange Simulations at the Hanford Site - Max Giddings (DBD)
14:20   Sellafield Solvent Treatment Plant - Throughput Modelling & Optimisation using gPROMS - Josh Whitworth (UKNNL) and Rory Fisher (Sellafield Ltd)
15:05   Networking break - coffee and tea served
15:35   Proof of concept of hybrid modelling knowledge models with data models - Pascal Ferrari (Orano Projects)
16:20   Utilising gPROMS in Chemical Abatement System Design - Shaista Bibi (Rolls Royce Nuclear Submarines)
17:00   Close
17:15   Cocktail reception

NB. The event agenda remains subject to change

      Abstracts and Speakers

Presentation - Welcome and foreword

Speaker - Neil Blundell, FIChemE Ceng CEnv  
Neil is a Principal Nuclear Safety Inspector with specific responsibilities for chemical engineering within UK ONR’s division for Sellafield, Decommissioning, Fuel and Waste. He is also the Chair of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s Working Group on Fuel Cycle Facilities. With over 40 years’ experience in chemical engineering and nuclear regulation, some of it spent managing a large nuclear safety research portfolio for the OECD NEA in Paris and working with the IAEA and EU’s ENSREG, Neil is an international expert in nuclear safety.

In addition, Neil was a founder member of the IChemE’s Learned Society Committee and is now part of the Technical Advisory Group for the IChemE’s Sustainability Hub.  

Presentation - Physical properties in gPROMS

Speaker - Dr Thomas Lafitte
Dr Lafitte is a recognized expert in advanced thermodynamics at multiple scales, from molecular to mesoscale and macroscopic descriptions. His experience was gained through PhD studies at the University of Pau (France), followed by post-doctoral work at Imperial College London (UK) and Princeton University (USA). Dr Lafitte’s research led to the development of the SAFT-g Mie equation of state, now widely acknowledged as one of the most accurate models for predicting the behavior of complex fluids. Dr Lafitte is currently the technical lead of the development of gPROMS Properties, Siemens DI PA SW’s software for the prediction of the physical properties of materials. His technical role is primarily focused on the:

• Design and implementation of thermodynamic models of the behavior of mixtures of complex materials (e.g. polymers, strongly associating compounds, ions etc.). 
• Design and implementation of novel algorithms making use of the above models for thermodynamic equilibrium calculations for complex systems involving multiple gas, liquid and solid phases and chemical equations. 
• Design and architecture of the gPROMS Properties software  

Presentation - What’s next for UK civil nuclear: Industry expectations and the political landscape
The last two years has seen monumental growth for the UK civil nuclear sector. What had been a declining industry is now in its Golden Age, with new projects such as Sizewell C and Rolls Royce SMRs at Wylfa kickstarting the UK supply chain and civil nuclear excellence. But where does the UK go now? This sudden surge of support has generated more questions for the sector, largely surrounding the extent of government support and oversight versus private sector advancement, which need exploring to ensure this momentum the sector is currently experiencing does not falter. This presentation will explore both the industry expectations for the industry and the current, and future, political landscape, and how both must work together in unison for the sector to reach its maximum potential.
Speaker - Millie Beaver, Nuclear Industry Association
Millie is the Head of Public Affairs at the Nuclear Industry Association. In her role, Millie leads on all Government and Parliamentarian engagement, Parliamentary events and conferences. Millie joined the NIA in 2024, following her role as a Senior Consultant for a European Public Affairs firm, leading on clients in the energy, telecommunications and food sectors. Millie started her career in the Houses of Parliament as a Parliamentary Assistant, first for the Victoria Prentis KC MP during her time as Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and then for the Rt Hon Tobias Ellwood MP when he was Chair of the House of Commons Select Committee.

Presentation - Characterisation and Modelling of Nuclear Material at Sellafield and Fukushima
Nuclear material at Sellafield and Fukushima contains reactive substances in addition to radioactivity. Successful encapsulation of the material for disposal requires R&D, such as characterisation and modelling to understand safety envelopes. The modelling of this material requires a multiphysics approach, including chemical kinetics, mass transport and heat transfer phenomena. Examples of gPROMS models, developed by UKNNL, will be illustrated.
Speaker - Dr Stephen Pilditch, UKNNL

Presentation - Integrated nuclear system process modelling, design, optimization, and control
Traditional commercial plants for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing rely on large-scale liquid-liquid extraction technologies that face challenges such as solvent degradation, large equipment footprints, and complex nuclear criticality control. Intensified SNF reprocessing methods using small-channel liquid-liquid extraction provide attractive solutions to improve mass transfer and reduce solvent degradation compared to conventional, large-scale systems. Equation-oriented simulation is essential for the design and optimisation of intensified extraction systems, and to develop digital twins that can integrate physical devices and software components in online applications for fast decision making.
The presentation will cover recent research carried out at UCL Chemical Engineering led by a team of academics (Angeli, Fraga, Galvanin) collaborating on the development of novel computational frameworks for automated experimentation, flowsheet design and process synthesis for extraction based metals separations. Key research activities include i) the mathematical modelling of intensified extraction technologies in small-scale channels to replace conventional batch based solvent extraction processes, leveraging process modelling and model-based experimental design; ii) the application of dynamic simulation to optimise and control power conversion systems for pulsed fusion reactors. The approach combines experimentation and equation-oriented simulation, leveraging small channel systems and advanced algorithms to reduce the cost, time, and uncertainty associated with nuclear waste management and energy generation.  

Speaker – Federico Galvanin – University College London
Federico Galvanin is Professor and Deputy Head of Operations at the UCL Department of Chemical Engineering, where he leads the Galvanin System Identification Group (GSIG). His research focuses on systems-based optimal experimental design methods to build predictive models of chemical processes with minimal cost and time. A member of the Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering, he has pioneered autonomous reaction platforms that combine physics-based modelling with AI and ML to accelerate chemical process design and optimisation. He leads the EPSRC DigiPROReact project, developing digital twins for flow reactor systems and, through the EPSRC funded SUMER project, he is extending the application of digital twin technologies to separations in flow for critical metals recovery systems. He has published more than 120 journal and conference papers on the development of methods and software tools for model identification, securing more than £15M in funding from UKRI and industry partners from pharma, fine chemicals and nuclear sectors, advancing the integration of digital tools in process systems engineering applications.

Presentation - Application of Neural Networks in the Optimisation of Ion Exchange Simulations at the Hanford Site
The TSCR facility is an ion exchange system used for tank waste pre-treatment prior to vitrification at the Hanford site, one of the largest legacy nuclear waste storage facilities in the world situated in Washington State, USA. Flowsheet simulations are an essential tool for engineers to gather deep insight into the process’s mechanics and predict system performance prior to campaigns to ensure safe operation and optimize the mission. Describing the ion exchange system accurately requires high fidelity, dynamic models able to predict the timing of column breakthrough and product compositions, something which creates unique challenges for engineers in managing computational performance when using classical process models. This presentation will focus on DBD’s experience working with ion exchange models using gPROMS, and how they have demonstrated the effectiveness of deploying surrogate models powered by the neural networks to drastically reduce the computational requirement of existing distributed models. The technique was able to produce a ‘snap-shot’ solution of the dynamic system compatible as an input to larger steady state models of the facility, to further support waste treatment planning on the Hanford mission.
Speaker - Max Giddings, DBD International
Max Giddings is a Senior Process Simulation Engineer at DBD International and currently acting technical lead for Hanford gPROMS projects. He is currently involved in the development of novel ion exchange models, for the TSCR process on the Hanford DFLAW facility in the Pacific Northwest of the US. He is a Chemical Engineer with a total of 7 years of experience in process simulation and digitalisation, having begun his career in the process safety field at ioMosaic Corporation before working at Siemens Digital Industries / Process Systems Enterprise applying gPROMS to develop simulations and apply them to chemical process optimisation and analytics. 

Presentation - Proof of concept of hybrid modelling knowledge models with data models
Chemical engineering needs accurate simulation tools in order to size a process or estimate performance. In some cases, knowledge models are not enough accurate / not really adapted to represent reliably a process. A way of going further is to substitute a part of the knowledge model with a data model trained with reliable data. The proof of concept realized show an implementation of a hybrid model within gProms.
Speaker - Pascal Ferrari, Orano Projects
Referent and senior expert in chemical engineering simulation and modelling in the field of the nuclear industry (Orano) with an engineering point of view, Keen on analyzing physical systems within a specific goal to achieve, determining phenomena governing the system and assumptions that lead to build up the more efficient modelling solution, compiling a wide range of knowledges (thermodynamics, chemistry, mass/enthalpic balance, thermal transfer, fluid mechanics, process control, AI) and running that physics in modern algorithms.

Presentation - Sellafield Solvent Treatment Plant - Throughput Modelling & Optimisation using gPROMS
Sellafield’s Solvent Treatment Plant (STP) treats radioactively contaminated solvent generated as a result of reprocessing operations. Following the cessation of reprocessing at Sellafield there remains a quantity of solvent pending treatment on the site. The plant’s performance in recent years has been below design throughput, this has extended the expected plant operating lifetime. SEMS in collaboration with NNL have produced a gPROMS model which models the sequence interactions in the plant, with a view to testing out alternative operating regimes with the aim of improving plant throughput performance.
Speaker - Rory Fisher, Sellafield Ltd
Senior Process Engineer in the Sellafield Effluent Modelling Support (SEMS) team within Sellafield Advanced Business Analytics for approx. 3 years. Principle focus on strategic and, increasingly, operational modelling of Low Active Effluent Management Group (LAEMG) effluent treatment facilities.

Presentation - Utilising gPROMS in Chemical Abatement System Design
Rolls-Royce Submarines Ltd is involved in the design of new nuclear facilities for the next-generation naval reactor cores. Legislation requires effective control and management of process-off gas produced from manufacturing processes. Chemical abatement of process-off gas lowers hazardous contamination ensuring emissions discharged to atmosphere are within permitted limits and conditions. Process simulation in gPROMS has supported with validation of the chemical abatement systems at the early design phase and addressing key challenges.
Speaker - Shaista Bibi, Rolls-Royce
Having completed three A-Level subjects (Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry) Shaista studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester as a mature student. 2019 Summer Internship in Civil Aerospace at Rolls-Royce was her first engineering experience, following this she took the opportunity to extend her project work in spent acid recovery to her final year Dissertation. Post graduation Shaista worked for a global consultancy (Atkins) in Oil and Gas as a Safety & Reliability Engineer. Having transitioned to Nuclear, in 2021 Shaista joined RRSL’s Engineering Graduate programme during which she completed several rotations providing production and in-service support. Having completed the graduate programme in late 2022 Shaista continued working in nuclear facility commissioning. For the last two years Shaista has been leading design for new nuclear facility abatement systems. Overall, in her engineering career Shaista has acquired breadth and depth of experiences in diverse chemical engineering sub-disciplines.