Exploring the past, present and future of radioactive waste management in the UK.
- Mon 2nd Dec 2024
- 19:30-21:00
- Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Churchill College, Storey's Way, Cambridge, CB3 0DS and Zoom
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This presentation will explore the past, present and future of radioactive waste management in the UK. The UK was a pioneering nuclear nation, a legacy of which is one of the largest nuclear decommissioning and remediation programmes in Europe. The most hazardous radioactive waste arising from this decommissioning programme will require isolation and containment in a deep underground geological disposal facility, for the thousands of years it will take for the radioactivity to safely decay. Through this presentation, we will explore how this waste is generated through nuclear activities and decommissioning, and the challenge of its safe, secure and environmentally responsible treatment, packaging and disposal.
Professor Neil Hyatt, Chief Scientific Adviser - Nuclear Waste Services
Professor Neil Hyatt is Chief Scientific Adviser to Nuclear Waste Services, Aegis Professor of Deep Time at The University of Bristol, and adjunct Professor of Nuclear Materials at Washington State University. Neil has a wealth of experience in the treatment and management of radioactive waste, and has held national and international leadership roles supporting academia, industry and the government. He has most recently been a member of the government’s independent Committee on Radioactive Waste Management. Within NWS, Neil is responsible for brining scientific evidence to the heart of organisational decision making, and management of risk, to ensure it is adequately informed.
Attending lectures
The lecture will be preceded by a short presentation from a CSAR PhD Award Winner.
Towards the Next Generation of T Cell Therapies Against Solid Cancers
Mr Alberto Conti Negrin, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge
Cell-based immunotherapies harness a type of immune cell known as T cells, which can recognise and target cancerous cells. While T cell-based therapies have excelled in treating blood cancers, they remain largely ineffective against solid tumours, which represent 90% of all cancers. Through Mr. Negrin's PhD work, he has pioneered two strategies to bridge this gap. The first involves genetically fine-tuning the levels of a key gene regulator in T cells to avoid T cell exhaustion, a major obstacle in their long-term persistence within tumours. The second one, that of engineering T cells to produce a chemotherapeutic protein capable of restricting tumour evolution and survival. Both strategies have shown remarkable results in pre-clinical models, and constitute the basis of two patent applications and a forthcoming university spin-out company to advance T cell therapies.