Andreas Kyprianou, Professor of Probability Theory and director of the programme grant MaThRad (Mathematical Theory of Radiation Transport: Nuclear Technology Frontiers) provides a further comment on the recent announcements regarding the government’s Nuclear energy plans.

He said: “The recent announcements of plans to revive the UK’s nuclear ambitions through the British Energy Security Strategy, Great British Nuclear and the confirmation of the new Nuclear Skills Taskforce will turn Nuclear aspirations into practical action. The UK has been a pioneer of nuclear power, however its position needs to be rebooted and opportunities to improve processes and efficiencies need to be seized.

Radiation Transport Modelling sits at the heart of the design, regulation, and operation of some of the most important nuclear technologies in the 21^st century including the building of new reactors and decommissioning old ones. However, many of the existing radiation transport modelling approaches were pioneered in the UK in the early days of nuclear power and unfortunately, these activities have received insufficient continued attention in the last few decades. Now is the time to bring together interdisciplinary communities from Engineering, Mathematical Sciences and Industry to revive this much-needed research area of radiation transport as the world struggles with issues of climate change and energy security.”

MaThRad is an EPSRC-funded interdisciplinary programme of research using modern mathematical methods from probability theory, advanced Monte Carlo methods and inverse problems to develop novel approaches to the theory and application of radiation transport. MaThRad is pursuing an interactive exploration of foundational, translational, and application-driven research; developing predictive models with quantifiable accuracy and software prototypes which are ready for real-world implementation in the energy, health care and space exploration nuclear industries.