Nuclear Institute honours surveying lecturer for “outstanding” article
A Kingston University lecturer has been honoured for his investigation into Britain’s plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Dr Bahram Ghiassee’s paper looking at the siting of the new stations, correctly predicted that three of the locations originally chosen by Britain’s energy companies would not meet the strict legal requirements imposed by international, European and British law. The paper was written more than a year before the Government finally drew up a revised list in June this year.
The Nuclear Institute has now awarded its Pinkerton Prize to Dr Ghiassee, who is a senior lecturer in Kingston’s School of Surveying. The prize is awarded for an article of “outstanding merit” published in Nuclear Future, the Institute’s journal. Dr Ghiassee received the award at a special dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane.
Britain’s existing coal-fired power stations will begin to be retired after 2015. The Coalition government plans to give the go-ahead for eight new nuclear plants over the next decade. Dr Ghiassee is well-qualified to assess the validity of these plans as he holds both a PhD in Nuclear Engineering and a Masters of Laws (LLM). He is a member of the UK Environmental Law Association, the International Nuclear Law Association (Brussels) and the Nuclear Institute (UK).
Despite his foresight in identifying that the three sites – at Braystones and Kirkstanton in Cumbria and at Dungeness in Kent – were not suitable for new nuclear plants, Dr Ghiassee believes most of the other proposed stations will be built. “The Fukushima nuclear accident has had a negative impact on the public’s perception of nuclear power, with Italy suspending its plans, Germany phasing out its fleet, and China slowing down the pace of construction,” he admits. “But I’m convinced that the UK government will not reverse, nor review, its policy on nuclear power, and that we shall witness the construction of at least four new nuclear power plants in England and Wales in this decade.
The prize-winning article was one of four, looking at the UK’s legal obligations in commissioning new nuclear power stations. The award is named after the Nuclear Institute’s founder John Brownie Pinkerton and was presented by its president Norman Harrison.
Dr Ghiassee, who lectures in European, environmental and planning law and sustainable development at Kingston University, is currently working on a fifth paper. Meanwhile, the debate about nuclear power shows no sign of going away with a recent House of Lords report accusing the government of an “Argos catalogue” approach to commissioning new stations.