UK Industrial Fusion Solutions announces new leadership appointments

UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd (UKIFS) has announced the appointment of Kaveh Pourteymour, Julie Nerney and Dr Luc Bardin as non-executive directors to its Board in support of the delivery of the UK’s prototype fusion energy plant.

STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) will be built at West Burton, a former coal-fired power station site in Nottinghamshire, and aims to demonstrate net energy from fusion alongside paving the way for the commercialisation of fusion energy.

Professor David Gann, chair of UK Industrial Fusion Solutions, said: “We are delighted to welcome Kaveh, Julie and Luc to our Board, together with Charlotte Valeur and our other executive and non-exec members. Their strategic insights will be invaluable as we navigate the delivery of a new technology to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of an emerging industry.”

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Pourteymour is currently managing director – head of Business Partnering and Projects for global mining group, Rio Tinto, and joins the UKIFS Board as a digital transformation leader with over 30 years’ experience spanning energy, utilities and manufacturing in addition to complex systems engineering and digital modelling.

Nerney has been delivering impactful and sustainable change in organisations for over 30 years in roles that span c-suite and board level, experiencing every stage of the organisational life cycle. She has delivered high profile and complex programmes, including a leadership role in the transport operation for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and was appointed as a non-executive director of the Supreme Court in February 2023.

A current non-executive director on the UKAEA Group Board, Dr Luc Bardin joins for a shorter period to help with the transition from UKAEA to UKIFS.

The UKIFS Board will also be joined by Jamie Stapleton as Board advisor. Stapleton is currently VP Digital Innovation & Synergies at Hitachi Energy.

The new appointments join fellow independent non-executive director, Charlotte Valeur, an investment banker and experienced FTSE chair and non-executive director. Her long board-level experience spans a host of sectors and industries and covers IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, and restructuring. 

These strategic appointments follow the launch of a multi-stage competition to find industry partners – one in engineering and one in construction – to form a public-private alliance led by UKIFS, a wholly owned subsidiary of UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) Group, to deliver STEP.

UKIFS will be responsible for the delivery of STEP from later this year.

The programme aims to create future opportunities for suppliers ranging from whole plant integrators to critical system manufacturers that can design and deliver future plants worldwide in addition to benefitting the communities that surround West Burton, UK.