Education and Training Series #103: Analysis and Engagement on Non-electric and Cogeneration Applications of Nuclear Energy
This webinar is part of a series hosted by the GIF Education and Training Working Group since 2016.
The link to register to this webinar can be found on this page under "about this webinar".
Who should attend?
Policymakers, industry professionals, regulators, researchers, students, the general public.
About the "GIF Education and Training" Webinars
These webinars, organised by the GIF Education and Training Working Group are streamed live monthly. The recordings and slide decks are accessible after the webinar on this website. These webinars cover a very broad range of technical and policy related topics. At the end of 2023 they have been viewed by more than 15000 people (approximately half of the views during the live streams and the other half views being of the archives on the public GIF website). In total, the GIF webinars have reached Generation IV enthusiasts, scientists, and engineers in more than 80 countries.
These webinars are organised and hosted by the GIF Education and Training Working Group (ETWG).
About this Webinar
This webinar will provide an overview of recent activities from the GIF Working Group on Non-Electric and Cogeneration Applications of Nuclear Energy (NECA WG). In particular, the speakers will highlight the history of using nuclear energy for non-electric applications, share findings from a recent report on the role of nuclear energy in the large scale production of hydrogen for industrial applications, and share key insights from engagement activities with end users for a range of applications.
The speakers will highlight the NECA report “System Analysis: Hydrogen Production from Nuclear Energy”, which represents collaborative analysis from members of the NECA WG and the NEA Working Group on Hydrogen Value chains (H2VAL) on the opportunity to produce hydrogen through High Temperature Steam Electrolysis (HTSE) using a High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR). The speakers will share findings from this report, including economic estimates and expert insights on the opportunities and challenges to use nuclear energy for large hydrogen production systems.
The webinar will also share insights from an invitation-only Non-Electric and Cogeneration Virtual Workshop with End Users that was held on June 17-18, 2025. The webinar focused on identifying key challenges faced by industrial energy end-users in adopting non-electric and cogeneration applications of nuclear energy, and the challenges that need to be understood and addressed to regulate these systems.
Dr. Patricia Paviet from PNNL, USA, member of GIF ETWG will facilitate this webinar.
Presentation of the webinar
Meet the presenters and moderator
Dr
Chukwudi Azih
Dr Azih is a Senior Research Scientist at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and heads a Section at CNL that performs experimental investigations on high temperature and pressure scenarios in current and advanced nuclear reactors. He serves in a leadership role, from a technical standpoint, in areas of heat removal and utilization from CANDU reactors, Generation-IV International Forum (GIF) fleet of reactor designs, and Small Modular Reactors (SMR). He is a Canadian representative in the Program Management Board for Thermal-Hydraulics and Safety of the GIF System Arrangement and in the Non-Electrical and Co-generation Applications of nuclear heat GIF Working Group. He applies his computational and experimental heat transfer expertise to lead efforts in developing technical understanding and facilities for active and passive heat removal systems for nuclear reactors, and thermal storage applications in integrated energy systems involving nuclear energy technology.
Mr
Brent WILHELM
Brent Wilhelm is a Nuclear Energy Analyst in the Division of Nuclear Technology and Economics within the Nuclear Energy Agency. Brent also serves the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) as Technical Secretary to the GIF Very High Temperature (VHTR) System Steering Committee, and the Computational Methods, Validation, and Benchmarks (CMVB) and Hydrogen Production (HP) Project Management Boards. Brent also supports the Non-Electric and Cogeneration Applications (NECA) Working Group.
Prior to this role, Brent worked for the Government of Canada as a Nuclear Science and Technology Advisor with Natural Resources Canada, where he informed analysis on nuclear energy technologies in support of Canada’s strategic policies. He has also worked at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Bell Canada, and GreenBug Energy, where he gained practical experience in clean energy technology development and the management of infrastructure implementation projects.
Brent received both a MSc and BSc in Physics from the University of Guelph where he specialized in nuclear energy and planetary bulk geochemistry.
Dr
Patricia PAVIET
Dr. Patricia Paviet was the chair of the GIF Education and Training Working Group (2015-2024). She is leading the efforts of the successful GIF webinars series since its inception in September 2016.
She serves on the GIF MSR pSSC representing the United States since 2021. She joined GIF in November 2015, as chair of the Education and Training Task Force. Outside GIF, Dr. Paviet is the National Technical Director of the Molten Salt Reactor Program for the US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy. She is managing the research supporting molten salt reactor development across six U.S. national laboratories. She is also a Senior Technical Advisor at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, providing guidance on used nuclear fuel recycling. She has an extensive technical background on the nuclear fuel cycle (front and back end).