NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (“NANO Nuclear”), a vertically integrated DeepTech company emerging from the shared micro-Small Modular Reactor (µSMR) and Advanced Nuclear Reactor (ANR) ambitions of a world class nuclear engineering team working alongside business and industry professionals, possessing strong relationships with both government, and the private and public nuclear industries is pleased to announce that it has bolstered its nuclear technical and engineering team with the addition of three leading specialists in their field: Dr. Nathaniel Read, Dr. Paul Cosgrove and Valeria Raffuzzi, MSc.

Figure 1 – NANO Nuclear Energy’s Bolsters its Nuclear Technical and Engineering Team with Three New World Class Specialists in their field: (from left to right) Dr. Nathaniel Read, Dr. Paul Cosgrove and Valeria Raffuzzi, MSc.

Dr. Nathaniel Read, Chief Safety Case Engineer, and Dr. Paul Cosgrove, Head of Computational Methods, alongside Valeria Raffuzzi – MSc, Head of Criticality and Shielding, will supplement Professor Ian Farnan and Professor Eugene Shwageraus in the development of the second proprietary NANO Nuclear Portable Advanced Micro Nuclear Reactor design, “ODIN”, a low-pressure coolant reactor.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Dr. Read, Dr. Cosgrove and Ms. Raffuzzi to the NANO Nuclear team,” said Jay Jiang Yu, NANO Nuclear Energy’s Founder, Chairman and President. “Their combined experience will play a crucial role in the next steps of developing ‘ODIN’ and advancing low-pressure coolant reactors to the next level. Professor Farnan and Professor Shwageraus have spoken of our newest additions in glowing terms and firmly believe that they will play a crucial role in realizing the Company’s ambitions.”

The second Advanced Nuclear Reactor (ANR) design in development at NANO Nuclear, “ODIN” aims to diversify its technology portfolio, as the design requirements can be met through different technological solutions. The “ODIN” design will utilize conventional sintered pellet UO₂ fuel with up to 20% enrichment, helping to minimize the required development and testing program schedule and costs. The proprietary reactor design “ODIN” will utilize low pressure coolant to minimize the stress on structural components, improve their reliability and service life. It will also use a unique reactivity control system design, aiming to have high reliability and robustness through minimizing the number of moving parts.

The reactor will operate at higher than conventional water-cooled reactor temperatures, which will allow resilient operation and high-power conversion efficiency in generating electricity. The “ODIN” design will aim to take maximum advantage of the natural convection of coolant for heat transfer to the power conversion cycle at full power and for decay heat removal during reactor shutdown, operational transients, and off-normal conditions.

Figure 2 – NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. Second Proprietary Portable Advanced Micro Nuclear Reactor Design, “ODIN”, a Low-Pressure Coolant Reactor

“I am delighted to welcome this trio of experts in their field to our Nuclear Technical and Engineering Team,” said James Walker, NANO Nuclear Energy’s CEO and Head of Nuclear Reactor Development. “Ms. Raffuzzi, Dr. Read and Dr. Cosgrove will play a vital role for the Company, with their varied expertise and know-how to be key in the development of our second proprietary advanced nuclear reactor design. The relationship and understanding they have already developed with Professor Farnan and Professor Shwageraus will allow them to seamlessly integrate their capabilities into the ongoing design phase of ‘ODIN’.”

Dr. Nathaniel Read’s primary research interests are in safety assessment methods for nuclear systems and nuclear space power applications. His current postdoctoral work seeks to apply modern machine learning techniques to datasets created by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) to attempt to detect early signs of station decline that could lead to an accident.

Figure 3 – Dr. Nathaniel Read, NANO Nuclear Energy’s Chief Safety Case Engineer

Focusing on numerical methods in nuclear reactor physics, Dr. Paul Cosgrove now teaches computational methods in nuclear engineering and supervises research projects on the topic. His research interests include stochastic and deterministic methods in radiation transport, multi-physics simulation, numerical analysis, and advanced reactor design.

Figure 4 – Dr. Paul Cosgrove, NANO Nuclear Energy’s Head of Computational Methods

“The ‘ODIN’ reactor design has the potential to decarbonise future energy production, but there is a lot of work to be done to realize it,” said Prof. Ian Farnan, NANO Nuclear Energy’s Lead of Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Radiation and Materials. “I have the utmost confidence that the addition of Dr. Read, Dr. Cosgrove and Ms. Raffuzzi will play a crucial role in the next steps of this design. I have worked extensively with each of them, and I am certain that their addition to the nuclear technical team is a vital step in attaining in ensuring that the ‘ODIN’ design reaches its potential.”

Valeria Raffuzzi, MSc. obtained her Bachelor degree in Energy Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, her Master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering at EPFL/ETH, and is currently concluding her PhD at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on developing novel methods to improve Monte Carlo neutron transport simulations. Valeria is experienced in computational methods for fission and fusion nuclear reactors, criticality and shielding calculations.

Figure 5 – Valeria Raffuzzi, MSc., NANO Nuclear Energy’s Head of Criticality and Shielding

“It is a source of great pride to welcome this trio to the NANO Nuclear journey,” said Prof. Eugene Shwageraus, NANO Nuclear Energy’s Lead of Nuclear Reactor Engineering. “The addition of these talented experts to the Nuclear Technical and Engineering Team is a step in the right direction and will help ensure that the future of energy production includes NANO Nuclear reactors, with ‘ODIN’ a particularly promising endeavor. It’s a prodigious pleasure to continue this path together.”