IEEE Nuclear Presentation Series - IAEA Safeguards: preparing for small modular reactors (SMRs)
IEEE Presentation Series on Nuclear Energy and Small Modular Reactors
The IEEE Vancouver Section and the IEEE Future Directions Committee are organizing a series of presentations to address the widespread interest in clean energy sources, new nuclear reactor technologies, and the various related issues. This series of talks will cover aspects of nuclear energy and the disruptive new technology of Small Modular Reactors. These presentations will be of interest both to engineers who are not nuclear specialists, and to the general public who are interested in learning about the technology.
| TOPIC: | IAEA Safeguards: preparing for small modular reactors (SMRs) |
| DATE: | May 7, 2025 |
| LOCATION: | Online |
| PRESENTER: | Dr. Jeremy Whitlock, Consultant (IAEA ret'd) |
Dr. Jeremy Whitlock will discuss the challenge of safeguarding Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), and how the IAEA is preparing for this – a key element of its mandate to support safe, secure, and peaceful nuclear expansion.
International Atomic Energy Agency | Atoms for Peace and Development (iaea.org)
This presentation is free. IEEE members and the general public are welcome to attend. Registration is required.
This presentation series is organized by:
- IEEE Future Directions Committee, IEEE Sustech Initiative
- IEEE Vancouver Section (Joint Applied Physics Chapter)
This presentation series is supported by:
- IEEE NPSS - IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society
Date and Time
Location
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- Date: 07 May 2025
- Time: 04:00 PM UTC to 05:00 PM UTC
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- Co-sponsored by IEEE Future Directions Committee, IEEE SusTech Initiative
Speakers
Dr. Jeremy Whitlock
Canadian Journey on Nuclear Energy - from CANDU to Small Modular Reactors
This presentation is the fifth in the IEEE Presentation Series on Nuclear Energy.
As the benefits of nuclear energy are increasingly recognized, the number of Small Modular Reactor (SMR) designs in development around the word has skyrocketed to almost a hundred.
These innovative technologies – from the evolutionary to the revolutionary – evoke an era over half a century ago when similar creativity in reactor design first flourished (with many of those concepts now making a return).
A key difference today is that many advanced concepts are being proposed for non-nuclear weapon States (NNWS) such as Canada – and thus would be subject to full-scope nuclear safeguards under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
International Atomic Energy Agency | Atoms for Peace and Development (iaea.org)
If only a fraction of the SMR initiatives succeed on their advertised timescales, the IAEA will be challenged to meet these safeguards obligations due to the many innovative designs and deployment models involved.
However, the safeguards must be ready: this means working with SMR designers as early as possible to develop efficient safeguards approaches, verification technologies, and design modifications to better enable safeguards – a process known as ‘Safeguards by Design’ (SBD).
This talk will present the challenge of safeguarding SMRs, and how the IAEA is preparing for this – a key element of its mandate to support safe, secure, and peaceful nuclear expansion.
Biography:
Private consultant on nuclear non-proliferation, reactor physics and stakeholder engagement (since Jan 2025).
Recently retired from the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (IAEA) as a Senior Technical Advisor in the Department of Safeguards, with three decades’ experience as a scientist and manager in the Canadian and international nuclear community.
Prior to moving to the IAEA in 2017, worked for 22 years at AECL and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, in both reactor physics and non-proliferation R&D.
B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Waterloo (1988), and an M.Eng. and PhD in Engineering Physics (reactor physics) from McMaster University (1995).
Past-President, Fellow, and former Communications Director of the Canadian Nuclear Society.
Feels that canoes are the closest Mankind has come to building a perfect machine.
Personal website: www.nuclearfaq.ca
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-whitlock-phd-fcns-03483010
résumé: https://www.nuclearfaq.ca/JEREMY_WHITLOCK_CV.pdf
Agenda
The presentation will start at 9:00 AM Pacific Time (12:00 EDT, 16:00 UTC).
09:00 Welcome and Speaker Introduction
09:10 Presentation
09:45 Questions and Answers
10:00 Presentation ends
NOTE If you have registered, you should receive the Zoom URL in a separate email, shortly before the presentation time. Please check your email spam folder.
NOTE Please be sure to leave sufficient time to set up your web browser and / or remote meeting client prior to the start time.
For more information about the presentation series as a whole, including the schedule of coming presentations, and previous presentations, please visit the Nuclear Presentation Series website at: https://bit.ly/SMR-series