Job title and company: Head of Project Management Office & UKAEA Strategic Plan Development, UKAEA Number of years in the Nuclear Industry: 10 Number of years on the NPC: Five
Mark Shannon gained a Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1993 from Birmingham University, before working in the Speciality Chemicals Sector for Monsanto as a Mechanical Project Engineer engineering various utilities projects. Following an 18 month assignment in the US developing a Ketone Alcohol Plant in Florida, Mark took up a new position at Foster Wheeler. He soon transferred to Shell Stanlow, acting in a number of Project Management roles on a £70m investment to reduce the sulphur content in motor gasoline.
Mark left Foster Wheeler in 2005 to join UKAEA Culham, becoming a section leader maintaining heavy beamline equipment as part of the JET Nuclear Fusion Experiment. He was part of the engineering team enhancing the beamline to deliver more power to the plasma. He became Project Manager on a number of design projects for the ITER Fusion Reactor Project in Cadarache, France, developing Remote Handling solutions for neutral beam systems and a wave heating antenna port plug, and acted as Programme Leader for the Upgrade of the MAST Reactor, the major UK fusion experiment, during the early feasibility and scoping phase of the project.
Mark joined the multinational EU team in Garching, Germany as head of Design Integration and Systems Engineering in the development of the conceptual design of the DEMO reactor which will follow ITER in demonstrating the commercial feasibility of fusion power. After an assignment of one year in Garching, he has now returned to the UK to become head of the Project Management Office at UKAEA and co-ordinate the development of the strategic plan for the organisation.
Mark's immediate future aspirations include seeing the maturation of the corporate strategy over time at UKAEA and establishing a Project Management Office that will perform crucial project functions through an established framework. For the UK, taking the bold step to the next generation of fission power plants is crucial to meeting generating demands and environmental obligations.
Favourite engineering innovation: The bicycle. Person I most admire: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, for his sheer engineering ambition and ability to pull it off. Top tip for a career in the Nuclear Industry: When you are given something to do, do what it takes to get it finished.