About us

The Centre for Nuclear Engineering (CNE) is a cross-faculty centre promoting and co-ordinating nuclear energy research across Imperial College London in collaboration with key external partners. Our history spans back to just after the Second World War, and in the intervening time our researchers have made important contributions to the development of nuclear energy in the UK and overseas.

The mission of the CNE is threefold:

Outreach

We will be an independent, impartial and trusted source of information on all nuclear matters. Our voice should reach College staff, members of the public, industry and policy makers - nationally and internationally.

The CNE regularly feeds into important discussions (e.g. public inquiries), hosts seminars from respected figures and engages with the public at science festivals, on television and radio and on social media.

Education

We coordinate innovative educational programmes at all levels, both within the college and externally. we will draw upon the expertise of the College to maintain our pre-eminent position in this area.

The CNE is the lead organisation for the £6M EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Nuclear Energy Futures (NEF CDT) as well as for the Imperial Cambridge Open CDT (ICO CDT). Both CDTs are active in training cohorts of students to be leaders in the nuclear energy industry, currently the NEF CDT is open to new applicants. We also co-ordinate three MEng 'with nuclear' degrees. Teaching is provided by research leaders from within College and a hand-picked selection of industrial experts, such as Dame Prof Sue Ion FRS. Our experts come from the Departments of Materials, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Earth Science Engineering, alongside unique expertise from our Reactor Centre staff at the Silwood Park campus, who manage the CONSORT test reactor.

Coordination

We will seek collaboration with nationally and internationally leading institutions. We will support the coordination of research programmes across the college and with collaborators to maximise impact

The Centre is comprised of 37 academics and over 60 PDRAs and PhDs who are involved in projects worth over £40M. Each Department contributes to the CNE's running and sends a representative to our monthly meetings where research opportunities are shared and discussed and bids drafted. We are looking to the future to meet the demands of global programmes in new build, next generation (GenIV and Fusion), life extension, storage, waste and decommissioning.