The Lifecycle of Pressure Systems 2023

Paul Smith: Chair, IMechE Pressure Systems Group

Paul is Chair of the IMechE Pressure Systems Group and a consultant specialising in nuclear codes & standards, design, manufacturing, conformity assessment and independent inspection and assessment of nuclear pressure equipment. Paul has a background in stress analysis, having worked in the Structural Integrity Team, where he was responsible for the design and analysis of engineering structures, systems and components, production of design justification reports, and presentation of results to clients and the nuclear regulator. Paul participates and chairs national and international committees for nuclear pressure equipment and regularly publishes work on comparisons of international codes, standards and working practices for nuclear pressure equipment. Paul was previously the Head of Profession for Structural Integrity & Materials, responsible for leading the development of the Structural Integrity & Materials Profession and representing the interests of the profession both internally and externally.

David Glass: Mechanical Engineering Team Leader, Health and Safety Executive

David is Principal Specialist Inspector with the HSE, and leads of a team of professional Mechanical Engineers within the Chemical, Explosives and Microbiological Hazards Division, responsible for managing research, informing policy and issues relating to onshore Asset Integrity. In addition, he and the team visit various hazardous installations throughout the UK, scrutinising arrangements for integrity management, maintenance and other mechanical engineering issues. Prior to joining HSE in 2005, David worked for fifteen years for multi-national companies in the batch chemical industry, at locations in the UK and USA. David is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Nawal Prinja: Technology Director, Jacobs

Professor Nawal Prinja has 42 years of academic and industrial experience in the nuclear energy sector. He is the Technology Director of Jacobs (Clean Energy) and held a position of Honorary Professor at four British universities (Aberdeen, Brunel, Bangor and Bolton). He is an expert on codes and standards. He chaired the CORDEL Working Group of WNA and chairs the Mechanical Codes and Standards Task Force. He has been working on Harmonisation of Nuclear Codes for over 10 years. He has been on IAEA missions to China, South Africa, UAE, Spain and Poland. He was appointed as an advisor to the UK Government to help formulate their long-term R&D strategy for nuclear industry and was a member of the Fusion Advisory Board of UKRI. He chaired a Technology Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence in Science and Technology Advisory Group of Ministry of Defence, participates in a number of international committees and represents the UK at the Senior Industry Advisory Panel of the Generation IV International Forum for next generation of nuclear reactors.

David Nash: Professor of Mechanics of Materials, University of Strathclyde

After spending several years with a vessel fabricator, Prof Nash joined the department as a researcher where he gained an MSc and PhD working on local load and saddle support contact problems. He has interests in bolted joints, buckling and impact analysis and broader applications of finite element design-by-analysis. He has written over 120 papers and six books on the subject. Professor Nash is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (2006) and has been an ASME member since 1987. He is Vice Chair of the Pressure Systems Group. He is the former UK national representative to EPERC, the European Pressure Equipment Research Council. He chairs the British Standards Design Methods committee for PD5500, the UK pressure vessel code and chaired the 13th International Conference on Pressure Vessel Technology ICPVT-13 in London 2012.

Simon Earland: Pressure System Consultant, BSI

Simon Earland is a specialist consultant in the field of pressure vessel and heat exchanger mechanical design and analysis. He acts as the Consultant on pressure vessels to the British Standards Institution, and serves on the PVE/1 and PVE/1/15 committees for PD 5500. He also serves on the CEN/TC 54 committee for the European standard EN 13445 and is convenor of working group 7 (titanium) and a member of working group 53 (design methods). He is a member of the Pressure Systems Group Board at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Simon also works with Professor David Nash, developing and presenting training courses on pressure vessel design.

Mark Dowell: Chair, UK NDT Leadership Forum

Mark began has career at ICI and worked through chemistry and sales roles to commercial management. He spent 12 years working for a global inspection and certification company responsible for laboratory and NDT compliance and performance as well as product and systems certification. He specialised in Engineering systems, particularly pressure systems, and ran an NDT training school with interests in the Far East and a specialist manufacturer of flawed NDT Specimens for a Global Market with particular reference to Nuclear requirements. Mark retired in 2018 to concentrate on Charitable work with BINDT but continues to bring his experience and skills to specific projects, particularly in relation to Management and to Certification. He is currently project managing the issues of supporting non-UK NDT certification organisations to comply with the UK regulatory changes running up to 31st December this year.

Marcello Consonni: Senior Project Leader, TWI

Marcello is a welding engineer at TWI in the UK. Marcello joined TWI's structural integrity department in 2006, then transferred to the welding engineering section in 2009. Prior to TWI, Marcello worked as a metallurgist and welding engineer for an Italian pressure vessel manufacturer, now owned by the Westinghouse Electric Company. Marcello is a member of various standardisation committees, including ASME section IX and various international ISO committees for welding qualifications and welding quality.

David Hardacre: Lead Specialist, LRQA

David’s career spans over 20 years across several sectors (Marine, Aerospace and Energy) and various disciplines (control & instrumentation, design, QA) working for companies such as Marconi Electronic Systems, BAE SYSTEMS, Smiths Aerospace, GE, Lloyd’s Register and LRQA. He has developed a strong mix of engineering skills and attained Fellow status with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. As Lead Specialist on additive manufacturing (AM) projects worldwide, David has been actively promoting the safe adoption of AM for industrial applications. David serves as a contributing member on several standards committees, such as CEN/TC 54 WG11 (EN 13445-14), ASME BPTCS (Pressure Technology Books and Code Cases), API 20S, ISO/TC 261 and ASTM F42.

Stephen Cater: Principal Project Leader, TWI

Simon Emeny: Director, Strategic Markets – Inspection Services, LRQA

Simon is the Strategic Markets Director at LRQA, formerly he held a variety of positions at Lloyd’s Register. Simon is responsible for the strategic commercial direction and implementation of LRQA’s inspection activities, including nuclear and low carbon businesses. Currently Simon is Project Director for the Independent Third-Party Inspection Agency contracts for Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C in the UK. He is also the LRQA technical authority for nuclear supply chain assessment and in-service inspection. Simon was elected as a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) in 2014 and is a Chartered Engineer. Simon was a member of the EU PED Working Group from 2002 producing guidelines to the EU Pressure Equipment Directive until the UK BREXIT in January 2020. Simon is a Vice Chairman of the IMechE Pressure Systems Group Board and a member of the World Nuclear Association Supply Chain Working Group..

Charles Byrne: Representative, PVMF

Charles sits on the PSG Board as a representative of the Pressure Vessel Manufacturers forum (PVMf). His experience spans more than thirty years of design and manufacture of heat exchangers, pressure vessels and other equipment. He is passionate about realising the synergy and benefits of a strongly connected pressure equipment industry in the UK. Charles is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and he chairs the Pressure Equipment Consultation Forum.

Andy Fisher: Principal Consultant, (ABB) TUV Rhineland

Andy obtained an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from Newcastle upon Tyne University in the UK. After leaving university, Andy joined GEC Reactor Equipment Ltd which designed and constructed bespoke fuel handling and reprocessing equipment for the Nuclear Industry worldwide. Andy was mainly involved in the design and construction of reprocessing equipment during his 9 years at GEC. After leaving GEC, Andy worked for 3 years at Pera, a UK consultancy working on Research and Development for the European plastic processing industry. Two subsequent years were spent working for a British Charity working in Zimbabwe – Andy was placed at Bulawayo Polytechnic, training staff and students in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Upon return to the UK, Andy worked for Vacmetal as their Pressure Systems Engineer. Vacmetal provided secondary steelmaking equipment to the worldwide steel industry. The next stage of Andy’s career took him to Ineos’s Runcorn site, initially as a plant engineer, ending up as an Engineering Manager. Andy was responsible for process plant producing chlorine derivative chemicals such Vinyl Chloride and PVC. The last 11 years have been working as a Senior Inspection Engineer in the Pressure Equipment Inspection team for ABB, now part of TÜV Rheinland UK Ltd from this year. Andy is involved in leading Risk Based Inspection (RBI) Assessments, accident investigation and asset integrity consultancy for a range of clients. TÜV inspect Pressure Equipment for UK clients, focussing on high hazard industries. Andy has is a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineer’s UK British Pressure Systems Group.

Alex Berry: Lead Fixed Equipment Engineer, Phillips 66 Humber refinery

Alex Berry holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and a Diploma in Welding Engineering from the TWI. A Chartered Engineer with the IMechE, Alex has 17 years petrochemical experience, he is responsible for mechanical integrity assessments on pressure equipment, undertaking engineering design and driving business improvement both at local and corporate level. Professional interests include Bolted Flanged Joints, Coke Drums, Weld repairs and mentoring younger Engineers.

Dan Hill: Team Leader, Sellafield

Daniel is a Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and an Associate System Engineer with the International Council of System Engineers. He has 13 years’ experience working in the Nuclear Industry and has recently taken on the role as Pressure Systems Design Capability team lead at Sellafield, having previously held roles as a Lead Piping and Vessels Engineer on two Major Projects for the Sellafield site.

Scott McNeil: VP Risk Engineering Team Leader, Energy & Power, Marsh Specialty, Marsh

Silviu Buzoeanu: Technical Team Lead, Asset 55

Paul Hill: Service Line Manager, Composite Repair, Team Inc

Paul’s early career focused on the use of composites in offshore and gas transmission applications and he has spent the last 20 years looking at how to use these materials safely to repair degraded structures including pipes, tanks, bridges, naval ships and passenger trains. He has been involved in the development and standardisation of composite repairs for pipelines and piping since 1999, has been a member of both ASME and ISO committees preparing the standards that cover this area from their beginning and is currently leading work to revise ISO 24817. He is responsible for TEAM’s global composite repair business which includes defining training requirements for engineers and technicians, design methods, material selection and technical development. He has extensive knowledge of recent industry test programs that have looked at performance of composite repairs and is active in disseminating best practice in their selection and use to support industry objectives to reduce operating costs without compromising safety of operation.

Duncan Humphrey: Engineering Manager, RINA

Duncan has over 20 years’ experience working on the condition assessment, failure analysis and remaining life evaluation, principally for the power, refining and petrochemical industries. He has undertaken a wide range of analyses, including static and rotating components, providing safety cases for future operation or technical support for litigation. He is experienced in the use of finite element analysis, pressure vessel design and fracture mechanics.

Rob Johnson: Director, AXIOM

Rob is a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and presently sits on the Institute’s pressure systems committee. Rob is also a business owner and director of Axiom Engineering Associates Ltd, which is a multi-award winning company, that celebrated its 20th birthday this year. Rob started life as a graduate design engineer working within the process industry in the North East of England, specialising in pressure vessel design and fired equipment technology. Rob has been involved in asset life management of pressure systems for the majority of his thirty plus years in industry.

Paul Grady: Mechanical Engineer, Health and Safety Executive

Paul holds the HSE Portfolio Machinery Safety, Fairgrounds and Pressure Systems. This involves mechanical engineering technical input to HSE policy on British, European and International Standards on these subjects, together with liaison with industry user-groups and trade associations. Previously Paul managed a team of mechanical engineers, providing support to HSE Inspectors in the Midlands, South of England and Wales. The scope included providing technical direction and advice to incident investigations to a diverse range of general manufacturing, construction, and fairground applications. Paul has recently been appointed as Chair of the BSI Machinery Safety national standards work (MCE3) and has a particular interest in hydraulic and steam pressure systems. He worked closely on these topics with the British Fluid Power Association and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, being the main author of HSE guidance GS4 (Safety in Pressure Testing) and PM73 (Safety requirements for Autoclaves). He is actively involved in developing consistent benchmarks between industry sectors, representing HSE in the development of BS14100, revision of PD5304 and BS EN 14960.

Adrian Addison: Consultant, _

Alex Zacheshigriva: Consultant Engineer, AZ Eng Ltd

Alex a Fellow of the IMechE and has over 15 years of experience in the design of piping systems in a variety of sectors including process, nuclear, marine, and offshore renewables industries. He has been involved in all phases of the design from concept and functional design, detail design, production support, in service support, and decommissioning. He is a member of the IMechE Pressure Systems Group and an associate consultant with the Institution’s Learning and Development Team, where he delivers training on the design of pressure systems.

Jake Lake: Technical Manager, British Compressed Gases Association

Jake has been the Technical Manager at the BCGA since 2011. BCGA is the lead UK Trade Association for industrial, medical and food gases. BCGA produces Industry best practice documents, many of which are agreed with Government Competent Authorities and Enforcement Agencies. Jake Chairs and is a member of several BSI standards committees and represents the UK at European and International standards meetings. Jake has been in engineering all his working life, including service in the Royal Navy as an aircraft engineer, with increasing responsibilities for the operation of naval aircraft from HM Ships. From 2002 he worked for the Ministry of Defence as the Gases Regulator providing the MoD lead for the safe use of gases, gaseous policy and standards as well as representing the UK at NATO. Jake is a Member of the IMechE, the IET and the Energy Institute.

Stefan Kukula: Chief Executive, EEMUA

Stefan has had a varied professional life; following graduation he spent a year working in the nuclear industry, before heading off back to academia to study composite materials – largely because they are what you make rowing boats out of, and there was a chance to see how far he could get in the sport. Luckily, he enjoyed the subject, because he hit his limit in sport, and it led to an eventful seven years in Japan working for Kobe Steel; a period which included being rendered homeless in a major earthquake and captaining the Japanese team in an international dragon boat competition. Back in the UK he has worked for Dyson, of vacuum cleaner fame, as well as materials companies ranging from multi-nationals to start-ups. He is now Chief Executive of the Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association, an industry body for owners and operators of fixed engineering assets, expensive capital plant with high degrees of hazard to people and the environment.

Peter Batty: Chief Executive Officer, PDB Training

Peter Batty has been working in industry since 1978 and has been actively engaged in pressure vessel inspection and certification since 1986. He started in the Nuclear Industry working for BNFL and the Atomic Energy Authority as a research Engineer. In 1990 he moved to become an Engineer Surveyor (pressure) with National Vulcan. He progressed through to Head Office Engineer within the post commissioning team looking at repairs and modifications to many types of industrial plant, from steam locomotives to Nuclear Power Plants. In 2003 he joined LmP, an independent Engineering Consultancy business, with close ties to the Inspection Companies. Peter was the Chief Engineer for LmP until his retirement in 2022, responsible for the Engineering activities of the company. He worked in many fields of pressure plant from small engineering workshops through to large pharmaceutical sites where the containment of stored energy, from pressure to chemicals, is paramount. Since retirement he has founded his own business, PDB Training Ltd., to support competency throughout industry.

Kyle Duncan: Group Operations Manager, IMechE Argyll Ruane

Kyle is the Group Operations manager of IMechE Argyll Ruane and IMechE Fife NDT. With over 17 years’ experience working in NDT across a range of industries, including aerospace and oil and gas as a Responsible Level 3, Lead NDT Engineer and Senior Technical Expert, Kyle’s diverse technical knowledge base ensures clients receive a high standard of training and support. Kyle joined the technical team at IMechE Fife NDT in 2021 as an NDT Trainer and Level 3 Consultant. He later took on the role of Training Manager in 2022, before becoming Group Operations Manager in 2023. Responsible for the day-to-day NDT operations at the training facilities in Sheffield and Fife, Kyle works closely with customers, trainers, Level 3 Consultants and the Customer Services team to manage the NDT training function for both sites and ensuring processes run smoothly.

Dene Halkyard: Technical Director, Flexitallic UK

Dene qualified with a honours degree in Applied Chemistry in 1987 and has worked in the sealing industry, in various capacities for over 40 years. His early years were spent as development technologist specialising in the development and commercialisation of various non-asbestos product groups; including building and friction materials, thermal insulation and sealing products. Following this Dene spent sometime in the United States as a product development specialist working on glassy carbon sealing products used in the semi-conductor industry. Upon his return to the UK he took up production management roles overseeing the manufacture of various static and dynamic sealing products. Following this Dene worked as product manager for a range sheet sealing products. After the unification of the Flexitallic and TBA sealing businesses Dene became a member of the Flexitallic Applications and Engineering team, promoting and providing bespoke technical sealing solutions across a broad spectrum of industries. He became the Applications Engineering Manager in 2013 heading up a team of 5 engineers with both technical and application related responsibilities for the eastern hemisphere, and in 2019 promoted to Technical Director.

Miles Gardner: Chair – Pressure Systems Technical Committee, SAFed