LUCIDCATALYST - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Advisor / Nuclear Civil Engineering and Construction
• SUNY Distinguished Professor

Andrew Whittaker is a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at UB. Whittaker is a licensed civil and structural engineer in California. Whittaker brings wide expertise in the field of nuclear structures and nuclear power plants; reinforced concrete and steel-plate concrete composite construction; regulatory guidance for analysis, design and testing of seismic isolation systems; and experience in modeling nuclear structures for beyond design basis loadings, including earthquake, air blast, ground shock and impact; numerical modeling; soil-structure interaction; fluid-structure interaction; seismic risk and safety assessment of nuclear structures; development of nuclear standards on analysis (ASCE Standard 4, ASCE Nuclear Standards Committee) and design (ASCE 43, ACI 349). Whittaker chairs the ASCE Nuclear Standards Committee. PI Whittaker has worked on projects related to RC and SC construction for the US National Science Foundation and DOE, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. His work on seismic protective systems for nuclear power plants was funded by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE, and the American Concrete Institute.

Job Titles:

• Legal Advisor

Charles Peterson is highly regarded in the international nuclear power industry as a market-leading expert and deal-maker with extensive experience in managing a wide array of legal, technical, and business issues relating to nuclear power. He is one of the few lawyers whose credentials include having advised on the UAE and Saudi nuclear power development projects, which are two of the largest modern nuclear projects to-date. Over the course of his long professional career, he has been a chief engineer on nuclear submarines, nuclear power plant engineer, energy business executive, academic, and advisor to various government agencies. In addition to project work, he has experience in litigation, arbitration, and mediation in the energy sector. Mr. Peterson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1960, and after service as the chief engineer on several nuclear submarines, he received M.B.A. and J.D. degrees from Stanford. He served as the General Counsel of General Electric's Nuclear Fuel Department from 1975-1978. From 1978 to 1983, he served as Division General Counsel of GE Aircraft Equipment, where he was involved in sales of aircraft equipment to the United States and foreign governments. From 1983 to 1987, Mr. Peterson served as the first Executive Vice President of the U.S. subsidiary of Cogema, the French nuclear fuel company which became part of AREVA. From 1987 to 1995, he served as President and CEO of NUEXCO, Inc., where he oversaw NUEXCO's rise to become the world's largest nuclear fuel trading company. When Mr. Peterson entered private legal practice, he developed a practice based on drafting and negotiating contracts for the construction of nuclear power plants. He used the contracts he developed at General Electric and updated the contracts with the lessons learned from each new nuclear power plant. He started with the contracts for Mitsubishi's and Toshiba's nuclear power plants in the United States and extended that with the lessons learned from the Little Willow NPP Project for MidAmerican Energy (Warren Buffet) and the negotiation of the Akkuyu project in Turkey. In 2006, Mr. Peterson was engaged to help ENEC on the Barakah project. As one of ENEC's top managers, he played a critical role in the development of the numerous contracts for the nuclear power program in the United Arab Emirates. He was one of ENEC's lead negotiators for the purchase of the Barakah nuclear power plant and was formally recognized for his work with a commendation from the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Between 2014 and 2018, he assisted K.A.Care in its efforts to develop a nuclear power program in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Peterson was head of the international energy practice for the Pillsbury law firm for over ten years. He recently returned from teaching nuclear law in Seoul, Korea. In March 2019, he took a position as Senior Counsel at Covington & Burling in Silicon Valley. He is an active member of the nuclear industry community and has an extensive network of contacts at both industry and government levels in a number of countries stemming from his high-profile body of work and his continuing advisory and teaching roles. Mr. Peterson serves as instructor for the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Nuclear Energy Management courses and maintains a consultative relationship with several governments and international nuclear companies.

Job Titles:

• Chief Technology Officer
• Nuclear Engineer

Chirayu Batra is a Nuclear Engineer with extensive experience on advanced reactor technology development. He worked as a nuclear engineer and a Project Officer on advanced reactor technologies at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for over 7 years. He has led the planning, organising and implementing several IAEA's activities and projects in the field of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) and their applications, including their coupling with renewable and non-electric applications. He also served as the first scientific secretary for the IAEA's platform on small modular reactors and their applications, where he coordinated the development of the IAEA's medium-term strategy for near term deployment of small modular reactors as well as the international SMR Coordination and Resource Portal for Information Exchange, Outreach and Networking (SCORPION). He has also led the IAEA's activities on codes and standards, design engineering and manufacturing of components for SMRs. He served as member of several international scientific committees and regularly provided technical insights. Chirayu has experience in advanced reactor modelling and simulations and also coordinated several international benchmark studies on modelling and simulations and led the IAEA's initiative on open-source nuclear codes for reactor analysis (ONCORE) as well as IAEA's project on nuclear power plant simulators. He has trained over 1000 professionals from across the world on system engineering and physics and technology of advanced reactors. He also served as the lead trainer for IAEA's integral PWR simulator. Chirayu holds a double master degree in nuclear engineering and nuclear reactor physics, and undergraduate degree in Material Science. He loves to read and can always be found with a book.

Job Titles:

• Advisor
• Expert
• Member of IOM3

Dr Jen Baxter is an internationally recognised expert in energy system development and infrastructure, with specific expertise in co-generation and hydrogen production and use, industrial capabilities and clusters and the successful diffusion and commercialisation of new and emerging technologies and infrastructure. Jen provides advice and solutions on the likely suitability and risks associated with new developments for hydrogen projects and interconnected infrastructure. A Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, member of IOM3, Jen is a Chartered Engineer and Scientist.

Job Titles:

• Advisor

Dr. Richard Jefferys MA, PhD, MIMechE, C.Eng, FREng. His career spans over 40 years in energy, specializing in offshore structure analysis, design and projects, and subsequently, clean energy, including renewables, energy storage, carbon capture, storage and utilisation, and water technologies. Rick was awarded undergraduate (Engineering) and PhD (Wave Energy) degrees by the University of Cambridge and subsequently worked in wave and tidal power research at CEGB (national utility). After six years as a lecturer (tenured) in Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture at University College London he moved to work in offshore platform design, analysis and major projects at Conoco, based in London and Houston. To broaden his experience he worked as an economist in the Conoco Europe Gas and Power group, focusing on valuation of optionality in contract, gas market analysis and project economics. As a member of the Conoco Europe Sustainability team, Rick evaluated novel technology options, initiated projects in wind technology and contributed to company GHG policy formation. After the Conoco-Phillips merger, Rick worked as a Technology Director in the ConocoPhillips Emerging Technology group, initiated projects in Carbon Capture, Compressed Air Energy Storage, and other clean technologies such as biochar. He was also deeply involved in planning for a major IGCC / CHP with carbon capture project at a ConocoPhillips refinery in UK. As a Technology Director in the COP Technology Ventures team, Rick evaluated a wide range of novel clean and conventional technologies, and reviewed numerous energy storage, CO2 capture (including mineralisaton), gas to liquids, and water related startups as potential investments. During much of this time, Rick was a judge for the ConocoPhillips (UK) St Andrews Prize for the environment, evaluating diverse projects in sustainability and development. After retiring from COP, Rick worked for a year on the conceptual design and modeling of an energy storage system at the University of Edinburgh and is now an independent consultant, focused on energy storage, carbon capture, renewables, and offshore engineering. Rick has received best paper awards from OMAE and DOT conferences, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2016), and is an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh (2018)

Job Titles:

• Managing Director
• Strategic Advisor

Eric Ingersoll is a strategic advisor and entrepreneur with deep experience in the commercialization of new energy technologies. He has extensive project and policy experience in renewables, energy storage, oil & gas, and nuclear, with a special emphasis on advanced nuclear technologies. At LucidCatalyst, Eric works with clients to develop commercialization and market entry strategies for advanced energy technologies such as advanced nuclear power generation, carbon capture, and zero-carbon liquid fuels. Eric has led the LucidCatalyst team in completing an array of projects related to regulatory, financing, and project delivery barriers, and techno-economic studies in the nuclear sector for a variety of clients, including government agencies in the U.S. and abroad. These include studies for EPRI, ARPA-E, Urenco/Aurora, CATF, the Energy Innovation Reform Project, and UK Energy Technologies Institute. He was on the study team for MIT's Study: The Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World. Eric recently co-authored Missing Link to a Livable Climate: How Hydrogen-Enabled Synthetic Fuels Can Help Deliver the Paris Goals. In addition to this extensive experience specifically on nuclear power, Eric has led dozens of in-depth studies on power market mechanisms, system modelling with specialized software, environmental policy impacts, and long-term market dynamics with expansion of solar, wind, energy storage, and other innovative energy resources. LucidCatalyst conducted a definitive cost study on advanced nuclear technology and maintains one of the industry's most comprehensive advanced nuclear cost models. Eric leads multiple decarbonization modeling efforts, and advises governments and private sector on electricity and fuels applications of advanced nuclear and fusion energy systems.

Job Titles:

• Analyst

Ian Woodhouse began working with LucidCatalyst in June 2020, focusing on researching the drivers of local opposition to Wind and Solar, and tracking instances and development of this opposition over time. He has contributed to work on the Energy Transition done in partnership with CATF, a collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a course concerning advanced nuclear reactor design, and now with TerraPraxis, our work on Repowering Coal. Ian is a 2019 graduate of Haverford College with a BA in English.

Job Titles:

• Vice President

John Herter has spent the past twelve years working for economic and corporate strategy consultancies as well as clean energy start-ups. As a Senior Consultant at LucidCatalyst, John advises corporations and NGOs on energy storage policy and deployment and manages an array of projects related to regulatory, financing, and project delivery barriers in the nuclear sector. John led the development of a report on advanced nuclear costs and has been involved in developing several capitalization strategies to take different types of nuclear technologies through to commercial demonstration. John's professional experience spans advancing energy storage policy in California (promoting incentive programs and new market mechanisms to compensate energy storage for its value to the grid) and leading project development efforts for large-scale, first-of-a-kind energy projects. With 15 years of GIS experience, John has led detailed site selection analyses for solar and utility-scale energy storage projects and has created GIS-based decision support tools for the EPA's Climate Change Division and other federal agencies.

Job Titles:

• Senior Consultant
• in 2020 As a Senior Consultant

Justin Aborn joined LucidCatalyst in 2020 as a Senior Consultant. Justin has performed wide-ranging technology work that spans circuit board design to data network architecture to energy machinery design to information system cybersecurity to public policy advocacy and analysis. Justin has performed complex technical system analyses and led projects that shepherded new technologies from ambiguity to functioning fielded systems. In his energy-related work Justin built power plant simulations that integrated machine performance models, weather predictions, electricity price data, gas price data, and contractual dispatch commitments. The resulting simulations modeled the financial performance of proposed energy-storage-augmented power plants. Justin's models were used to assess the concepts of operation related to making market and forecast driven 'store versus sell' energy dispatch decisions. Justin was a technical subject matter expert and leader of public policy matters during formative years of today's data communication infrastructure. He was long active in the standardization bodies that took up the telecommunication industry's commercial collaboration on new technology adoption, while simultaneously attending to appropriate consideration of government regulatory frameworks and needs. Justin earned a BA degree in Engineering from Dartmouth College, a BE degree in Electrical Engineering from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering and completed the Greater Boston Executive Program (GBEP) at MIT's Sloan School of Management. Justin is an inventor on over eighteen granted patents in technologies that range from telecommunications systems to compressed air energy storage systems. Justin served as a U.S. State Department delegate to two international telecommunications forums and co-chaired the Federal Communications Commission's Network Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC) Broadband Focus Group. Justin was named a "Mass High Tech All-Star" by The Mass High Tech Journal.

Job Titles:

• Advisor
• Managing Director
• Co - Founder of TerraPraxis

Kirsty Gogan is an internationally sought-after advisor to governments, industry, academic networks and NGOs. Kirsty is regularly invited as an expert speaker on science communication, climate change, competitiveness and innovation to high profile events around the world. She has more than 15 years' experience as a senior advisor to Government on climate and energy policy, including 10 Downing St, and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Job Titles:

• Watch Bloomberg New Energy Finance Founder

Job Titles:

• Advisor
• Director of Portinscale Consulting Limited

Mike Middleton is the Director of Portinscale Consulting Limited in the UK. His diverse nuclear operations experience spans defence, waste and decommissioning, nuclear site management and new nuclear power. His expertise extends into integrated low carbon energy systems and the drivers which enable nuclear technologies to be cost effective within a low carbon energy mix.

Job Titles:

• Consultant

Romana Vysatova provides business planning and operations support for LucidCatalyst in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Co-founder of Lucid Strategy, she helped develop product, market, marketing, organizational, and investment strategies and wrote dozens of business plans for companies and non-profits seeking growth and investment. She worked with the First National Bank of Chicago to help set up one of the first Venture Capital funds in China; with Drexel Burnham Lambert as a financial analyst in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department in New York; and with the White House Domestic Policy Council and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington D.C. on rural economic development with a focus on supporting new business creation. Romana led a strategic planning and facilitation initiative to integrate and streamline the rural development and assistance programs of multiple Federal agencies. She also works with a variety of non-profits in the Boston area as a communications consultant and photographer. Romana received a Master in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and graduated from Harvard College.