What role does nuclear power play in a Net Zero Energy System?

What role does nuclear power play in a Net Zero Energy System?
The ups and downs of a career in the nuclear sector

Dr Dame Sue Ion (GBE, FREng, FRS, FIoM3, FNucI) is Hon President of the National Nuclear Skills Academy and is a member of the UK Nuclear Regulator’s Independent Advisory Panel as well as holding a number of other advisory roles. Dame Sue spent over 3 decades in the nuclear sector before moving to a more advisory role on energy matters generally. She was the UK’s representative at the IAEA and was the only non US member of the US Dept of Energy Nuclear Advisory Committee. She chaired the Nuclear Innovation Advisory Board for the UK Government and holds visiting professorships at Manchester and Imperial College. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society and chairs or serves on a number of standing committees including Diversity and Ethics Committees. Sue is passionate about attracting more females into science and engineering, regularly gives talks in schools and has in the past appeared in the media to discuss how important this is.

Sue will describe her early career and the wide diversity of roles held since graduating and the amazing opportunities given to engage with top scientists and engineers internationally. She will then go on to talk about the challenges in trying to achieve net zero and why nuclear power is on the cusp of a renaissance.

After Sue's talk, we will have a fireside chat with Sue and Jake Jurewicz (CEO and co-founder of Blue Energy), chaired by Professor Neil Turok (Higgs Chair of Theoretical Physics), that will explore the evolution and application of nuclear technology.