Speaker I

Prof. Hossam A.Gabbar, Professor, P.Eng., Fellow IET (FIET), Distinguished Lecturer IEEE NPSS, Director of Advanced Plasma Engineering Lab (APEL)
Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, Canada

Dr. Gabbar is a full Professor in the Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science, and cross appointed in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, at Ontario Tech University (UOIT), where he has established the Energy Safety and Control Lab (ESCL), Smart Energy Systems Lab, and Advanced Plasma Engineering Lab. He is the recipient of the Senior Research Excellence Aware for 2016, UOIT. He is recognized among the top 2% of worldwide scientists with high citation in the area of energy. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE NPSS, and he is a Fellow IET (FIET). He is leading national and international research in the areas of smart energy grids, energy safety and control systems, and waste-to-energy using advanced plasma technologies. Dr. Gabbar obtained his B.Sc. degree in 1988 with first class of honor from the Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University (Egypt). In 2001, he obtained his Ph.D. degree from Okayama University (Japan). From 2001 till 2004, he joined Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), as a research associate. From 2004 till 2008, he joined Okayama University (Japan) as an Associate Professor, in the Division of Industrial Innovation Sciences. From 2007 till 2008, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto. He also worked as process control, safety, and automation specialist in energy and oil & gas industries. Dr. Gabbar has more than 290 publications, including patents, books / chapters, journal, and conference papers.

Speech Title: Advances in Plasma-Based Radioactive Waste Treatment

This talk presents advanced approaches for plasma-based radioactive waste treatment. Different designs of plasma torches and generation systems are discussed, including RF, DC, and microwave plasma, are analysed and compared for waste-to-energy applications. Novel plasma torch design is proposed to support different scales and types of radioactive waste treatment. Process engineering techniques for gasification and pyrolysis process are integrated with the radioactive waste treatment process, which are illustrated with waste characterization. The proposed approaches showed reduced radioactive treatment costs, risks, volumes, in addition to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved lifecycle performance. Plasma systems are utilized for nuclear waste treatment for low, intermediate, and high radioactive waste. Process design is discussed for plasma torch that can reduce the volume of radioactive waste. Potential approaches are explored for mass separation that could be utilized for high-level radioactive waste. Simulation methods and experimental setups demonstrate lab-scale process technologies for plasma-based radioactive waste treatment.

Speaker II

Prof. Lodovico Ratti
University of Pavia, Italy

LODOVICO RATTI (M’ 2000, SM’2013) is full professor of electronics with the University of Pavia, Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, Italy. His main expertise is in the design of front-end electronics for highly segmented radiation detectors, photodetectors (SPADs) and monolithic sensors, in particular based on CMOS processes. His work is also concerned with the study of ionization and substrate damage caused by radiation, as well as the characterization of noise, in microelectronic devices and circuits. The target applications are in the area of high energy physics, astrophysics and photon science experiments. Lodovico Ratti is secretary of the Radiation Instrumentation Steering Committee (RISC) of the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society (NPSS) and Chair of the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences (NPS) Italy Chapter. He is a technology research fellow with the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN). He is author or co-author of about 350, including papers published in peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings, works presented at international conferences and book chapters, and editor for IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Frontiers in Physics and MDPI Electronics.

Speech Title: Lives on the Edge: The Risky Daily Existence of Radiation Instrumentation.

Electronic circuits and systems are employed in a number of different fields where some degree of radiation tolerance is required. When operated in such environments, they may be directly struck by particles or highly energetic photons, with a subsequent alteration of their electrical properties. The presentation provides an overview of the key challenges associated with radiation damage study in electronic circuits, intertwined with the research conducted in this field by the Electronic Instrumentation Laboratory at the University of Pavia. Tools for radiation tolerance assessment are briefly reviewed and possible radiation hardening measures are outlined. Some emphasis is placed on how radiation tolerance is affected by the evolution of microelectronic technologies and by the growing hostility of the radiation environments.