Meet the Team: Clean Energy

Adrian’s work is focused on hydrogen production. He started the experimental work on the high temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE) process at CNL and contributed to the development of novel materials to be used as electrodes in the solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC). He’s also led the project to demonstrate the operation of the laboratory-scale hybrid copper-chlorine thermochemical cycle (HCuTEC^TM). In addition, Adrian has played a major role in the design, scale-up, commissioning and testing of the thermal cycling absorption process (TCAP) for hydrogen isotope separation.

Chuk heads a Section at CNL that investigates postulated high temperature and pressure scenarios in current and advanced nuclear reactors. He has led several projects at CNL providing support to the programs from a technical stand point, including investigation pertaining to CANDU reactors, the Generation-IV International Forum (GIF) fleet of reactor designs, and CNL’s Small Modular Reactor (SMR) initiatives. He is a Canadian representative in the Program Management Board for Thermal-Hydraulics and Safety of the GIF System Arrangement. He has a diverse range of technical expertise in flow and heat transfer analyses including computational fluid dynamics assessments of complex geometrical flow paths and performing a range of high temperature and pressure heat transfer and fluid flow experiments. He has lead efforts in developing several thermal-hydraulic experimental and assessment capabilities and facilities at CNL to investigate novel SMR safety systems such as heat pipes, natural circulation of molten salts, and other passive systems.

Hugh Boniface trained as a chemical engineer and developed a long career in research that applied all the aspects of chemical engineering he covered in school. His areas of interest started in gas separations by adsorption, through heavy water production by reactive distillation to tritium extraction and concentration by electrolysis and inter-phase isotope transfer. In all of these, his focus has been to apply scientific and engineering fundamentals to making processes that perform these separations in the most efficient way.  Hugh has been instrumental in building a successful prototype heavy water production plant and in building and commissioning a full-scale tritium extraction plant at the Wolsong CANDU reactors. His current two major projects are to build a small heavy water upgrader and to design a process to remove essentially all tritium from used heavy water to make it non-radioactive.

Dr. Bromley is Reactor Physicist with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), Chalk River Laboratories (2003-2014), and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) (2014-present). In his current role, he serves as a Principle Investigator / Technical Lead on a multi-disciplinary Federal Science and Technology project evaluating the implications of the use of advanced and non-conventional fuels and fuel cycles in various SMR, Gen-IV, and Gen-III+ technologies. He also has prior work experience at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) (2001-2003), and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) (1994-1998). He has a B.A.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering (University of Toronto, 1993), a M.Sc. degree in Aerospace Engineering (University of Illinois, 1998) and a PhD. in Nuclear Engineering (University of Illinois, 2001), with graduate research experience in fusion energy science and technology. Dr. Bromley continues to be active in professional activities. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Nuclear Society (CNS), and has been serving as the chair of Fusion Energy and Accelerator Science and Technology Division (CNS-FEASTD), since 2010. Dr. Bromley has also served in multiple volunteer roles in various divisions and committees within the CNS, the American Nuclear Society (ANS), and Women-in-Nuclear, Eastern Ontario Chapter (WiN-EO).

Gordon has enjoyed a 26-year career with AECL/CNL as a research scientist developing sensors, software tools to make better use of the chemistry and process data at CANDU® stations, and providing secondary side chemistry support to the stations. He is presently using his background in chemistry and physics as the Manager of the Advanced Fuels & Reactor Physics to provide oversight to research for the development of nuclear fuel for future advanced reactors and associated reactor physics modeling and experiments .

Denys Elliot graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Masters in Political Economics in 2015. In 2016 he joined Canadian Nuclear Laboratories as a member of the Business Development team. In early 2020, Denys took over the role of Commercial Lead for CNL’s Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Program. In this role, Denys serves as the primary point of contact between CNL and SMR vendors for the establishment of commercial research and development contracts that advance SMR technologies towards deployment. Denys is also responsible for the administration of CNL’s Canadian Nuclear Research Initiative – a CNL program to support collaborative Advanced Reactor (AR) research projects with third-party proponents in Canada.

Nirmal leads projects that involve hydrogen and related energy systems through engineering analysis and techno-economic validation, for decarbonisation of multiple economic sectors.

Notable Projects:

• Marine-zero fuel assessment tool development project. Technical lead for the joint project with Transport Canada, helping marine vessels operators to understand the impact of alternative fuels such as hydrogen.
• Hydrail feasibility study for regional express rail program. Technical lead for the joint project with Jacobs, Ernst & Young and Metrolinx in Toronto, Ontario.
• Underground hydrogen storage capabilities development. Technical lead for a project with AECL/NRCan, enabling the development of techno-economic models, protocol development for storage site development and experimental test co-ordination.

Expertise:

• Assessment of techno-economic feasibility, environmental benefits, safety regulations, business case, sustainability and infrastructure of hydrogen-based fuels in end-use applications for decarbonizing multiple sectors including transport, energy and industries.

Dr. David Hummel received his Masters and PhD degrees from McMaster University in Engineering Physics. In 2015 he joined the Containment Response Section of what was then the Fuel & Fuel Channel Safety Branch at CNL’s Chalk River campus. He has since contributed to the experimental and computational study of containment and radionuclide transport behaviour in support of the CANDU industry, and most recently, to the study of advanced reactor and small modular reactor (SMR) accident phenomenology. Dr. Hummel has served as project leader, principal investigator, or researcher on multiple projects concerning SMR safety and studies of accident phenomenology within CNL’s Federal Science & Technology program. Dr. Hummel has also represented Canada in International Atomic Energy Agency meetings on advanced reactors and SMR safety, and has contributed to the organization of multiple conferences hosted by the Canadian Nuclear Society.

Hongqiang Li is Section Head of Catalyst Technologies in the Hydrogen Technologies Branch at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.  He has more than 20 years of research experience in diverse applications of electrochemistry and catalysis.  His main research areas include:  hydrogen production, hydrogen storage and purification, batteries (including redox flow batteries), fuel cells, and corrosion. In recently years, he has been the technical lead to experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of the hybrid copper- chlorine thermochemical process (CNL trademarked as HCuTEC^TM) with the potential for large-scale hydrogen production using nuclear and renewable energy. His expertise in nanomaterials and electrocatalysis has also contributed to the development of new technologies for tritium management and hydrogen isotopes separation.

As an Operations Research Analyst at CNL, Megan has the opportunity to contribute to a diverse set of projects. Through her involvement in the Clean Nuclear Research initiative (CNRI), Megan lead the successful launch of the first call for proposals in 2019, and is currently overseeing the second call for proposals. To date, CNRI is meeting its objective is to make CNL’s technical capabilities and expert knowledge available and accessible to the advanced reactor (AR) community in order to equip them with the technical support required to progress towards deployment in Canada. During her time at CNL, she has also developed an expertise in nuclear economics, developing economic models to assess traditional reactors, Generation IV reactors, SMRs as well as components such as the economics of various fuel cycles. Megan has been able to use the experience she has gained to contribute to the larger economic community, most notably as a current co-chair of the Generation IV International Forum Economic and Modelling Working Group. Megan has also performed several feasibility studies to understand the system level impacts of implementing various technology solutions. Most recently, she as lead a team at CNL in the development of the hybrid energy system optimization (HESO) model, a powerful tool that can be used to gain valuable insight into possible energy transition scenarios in support of Canada’s clean energy targets.

Armando Nava Dominguez has a Bachelor’s degree in Energy Engineering, specialized in Nuclear Thermalhydraulics and a Master’s degree in Nuclear Thermalhydraulics. He joined CNL in 2005 as a Thermalhydraulics Analyst, specializing in code development and validation of the subchannel code ASSERT-PV. He joined the Canadian Super Critical Water Reactor (SCWR) team in 2011 as part of the Generation-IV International Forum (GIF) program. He is the Canadian member and co-chair of the SCWR Thermalhydraulics and Safety under GIF. At CNL, he is the Technical Lead of the SCWR Gen IV project, and Head of the Advanced Reactor Technologies section. In addition, he has five years of experience in the private sector conducting deterministic and probabilistic safety analyses of nuclear power plants.

Ali Siddiqui leads CNL’s Advanced Reactors Directorate.  Ali has been with CNL for over twelve years serving in various technical and management roles in the S&T mission and corporate office.  As Head of Directorate, Advanced Reactors he leads both the staff and programs undertaking research crucial to speed development and deployment of Advanced and Small Modular Reactors in Canada.  Ali leads a diverse team executing on CNL’s clean energy vision including serving federal clients, developing new commercial S&T opportunities and providing support for the SMR deployment project at CNL.  His team has also developed CNL’s Clean Energy Demonstration, Innovation, and Research (CEDIR) Initiative to advance the technological readiness of low-carbon hybrid energy systems and help meet Canada’s net-zero goals.  He currently represents CNL and Canada on a number of domestic and international working groups and committees, holds a master’s degree in aerospace engineering and is a professional engineer in Ontario.

Claire Simister is an analytical chemist in the Analytical Chemistry Branch. She heads a section that performs various environmental and chromatographic analysis (organic and inorganic parameters) to support nuclear, environmental, commercial and R&D projects. She has a diverse range of experience in sample digestions, separations, elemental analysis and chromatographic techniques, as well as in method validation, establishing uncertainty of measurement and ensuring quality compliance of analytical procedures to various international accreditation programs. Claire also has experience in nuclear fuel fabrication and in supporting investigations to improve reactor chemistry analysis.

Lori Walters has over 25 years of experience in reactor materials research. As part of her involvement with reactor life extension and component fitness-for-service investigations, Lori has developed expertise with irradiation induced effects on in-core materials, materials performance and in-reactor materials testing. She is now building on that experience and applying it to address materials challenges for SMR and Generation IV Reactors. Lori has taken a leadership role within CNL on the GenerationIV International Forum (GIF), presently serving as Canada’s representative to the Super Critical Water Cooled Reactor System Steering Committee and is working with government and Canadian collaborators to establish a “Team Canada” approach to GIF participation.

Dr. Mike Welland is a research scientist and the head of the Mesoscale and Transport Methods section in the Computational Techniques branch. Through his involvement in the Clean Energy Demonstration, Innovation, and Research [CEDIR] Park he coordinates a team to investigate the potential of coupling an SMR to low-carbon systems to meet the diverse needs of Canadian communities and organizations. He is also the principal investigator of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Fuel and Cladding Performance project, which applies the multiscale modelling of computational materials science to contemporary and advanced nuclear fuels in order to enhance their safety and efficiency through understanding of their underlying mechanisms. He is also passionate about accessible scientific communication (https://youtu.be/pTCjecHN3Ew) and organizes the CNL Summer Co-op Exhibition (https://youtu.be/Jj5v9Q5066A). His research interests include thermodynamics, transport processes, and mesoscopic phenomena in nuclear fuels, structural materials, and nanoparticles.

Luke is a physicist in the Advanced Fuels and Reactor Physics Branch of the Advanced Reactors Directorate. As a member of the Reactor and Radiation Physics section, he is one of the primary users of the ZED-2 zero power reactor: proposing, planning, and analyzing experiments performed in ZED-2, as well as providing general physics support. His experience ranges over a variety of federally funded S&T and commercial projects utilizing the reactor. Such experiments have focussed on providing data for the validation and verification of computational tools and the requisite nuclear data. Of late, studies have included conventional heavy water reactor systems and advanced fuel cycles, with a focus on the transient behaviour of such critical assemblies. Since joining CNL, he has been keen to explore how ZED-2 can be used for zero power reactor physics experiments supporting advanced reactors, which is the subject of ongoing work in S&T.

Alexandre has led several CNL and commercial research projects and is a former section head.  He has expertise in the development of reactor physics codes, multiphysics simulation systems, nuclear data libraries, and uncertainty propagation methods.  He recently led an international team of experts in the development of an IAEA numerical benchmark for Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor transients.  Currently he is leading several technical teams working in the following areas: the development of statistical emulators to act as surrogates for coupled loss of coolant simulations in CANDU-like systems; the development of coupled Monte Carlo / Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation capabilities for small modular reactor applications; and the development of global uncertainty propagation methods applied to flow-induced vibrations in reactor steam generators.

Pronnapa works in the Computational Techniques Branch at CNL where she conducts research and analysis to support federal S&T and commercial projects. Most recently, she has designed and developed the Hybrid Energy System Optimization (HESO) model, a techno-economic assessment tool, formulated as a large-scale optimization. The tool has been used to perform several technical and economic feasibility studies of nuclear-renewable hybrid energy systems in serval aspects. She has represented Canada in the International Atomic Energy Agency technical meetings on energy tools for sustainable energy development and energy systems with increased shares of renewable energy sources. Currently, her research focuses on the improvement and applications of the HESO model to investigate the roles of nuclear energy in low-carbon energy systems beyond power generation. Dr. Sanongboon received her Ph.D. in Engineering with core expertise in optimization and artificial neural networks.

Sourena heads the Multiphysics Methods section in the Computational Techniques branch. His areas of research include neutronics analyses, particularly of heavy water reactors and high temperature gas cooled reactors; nuclear data; and advanced fuel cycles. His current work is focused on coupled physics-thermalhydraulics simulations and modelling of reactor transient conditions. He obtained his PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the University Of Ontario Institute Of Technology in 2015 and currently sits on the board of directors of the Society for the Preservation of Canada’s Nuclear Heritage.

Catalina heads the Codes and Algorithms section, which implements and develops algorithms for a variety of applications, including advanced reactor and fuel cycle modelling, atmospheric transport of radionuclides, machine learning methods for anomalous event prediction, and statistical analysis of experiments and data.  Her background is in mathematics and she is a subject matter expert on data analytics and machine learning at CNL.  She is currently leading the computational component of two multi-year projects.  The first focuses on the development of Bayesian emulators for risk assessment, to determine the estimated frequency of shutdown system functional failure during an accident, as well as the uncertainty around that estimate.  The second is on algorithm development for online monitoring of reactor components and systems, such as using methods of anomaly detection and forecasting to improve reactor chemistry operations.

Marie-Claude Gregoire joined CNL in 2019 after managing R&D Health Sciences for 14 years at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in Australia. She was responsible for an R&D portfolio and strategic research programs with national and international partners that foster innovation in nuclear-based technology to deliver better health to all.

Her 30-years R&D expertise is in the field of multi-modality medical and pre-clinical imaging to investigate biological mechanisms and validate therapeutic strategies where she has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers.

Jacqueline is a research scientist at CNL in the Mechanical Equipment Development branch. She’s part of a team that designs many first of its kind tools and technologies to support Canada’s nuclear industry and the world’s too. In her role, Jacqueline supports and leads technical teams in the design, assembly and verification of this unique tooling for various nuclear applications. Jacqueline holds a Biomedical Mechanical Engineering degree from The University of Ottawa.