Dame Susan Elizabeth Ion (/ˈi.ɒn/;[5] née Burrows; born 3 February 1955) is a British engineer[6] and an expert advisor on the nuclear power industry.

[13] Ion was educated at Penwortham Girls Grammar School near Preston, Lancashire in the same year as Nancy Rothwell.

At 16, Ion won a book on atomic energy as a prize for her O-levels in science, which helped inspire her enthusiasm for the topic.

[13][2][16] She taught in an inner-city school in London while completing her doctorate and used supplies from the college laboratories in her lessons to help students become enthusiastic about the industry.

[4][16][18] Ion's work, along with David King, took about 10 years of educating government officials to consider the scientific evidence surrounding the issues of nuclear power and renewable energy to inform policy.

She spent a lot of time early in her career advising government officials about nuclear reactors and countering the negativity caused by the incidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.

"Ion supports the development of smaller, modular versions of nuclear reactors for their economy of size, portability and cost.

[25][26] In Ion's outreach as a spokesperson for the nuclear power industry, she has expressed a belief that more needs to be done to attract women into the field of engineering.

While major institutions may support the idea of females entering the field of science and engineering, Ion notes that grade schools under the current system may not provide the prerequisite coursework early enough in students' academic careers for them to be successful at university.