UCL Australia
In December 2008, Professor Michael Worton (Academic & International UCL Vice-Provost) said of the establishment of UCL Australia that the university was "committed to working to solve real-world problems and we relish the opportunity to work not only with the South Australian Government but also with Santos and a range of other Australian and international energy companies through our presence in Adelaide.
In January 2015, UCL Australia announced that its campus would close within three years but agreed to support currently enrolled students through their degrees and courses.
[4] The UCL Adelaide satellite campus closed in December 2017, with academic staff and student transferring to the University of South Australia.
[6][7] In 2012, research undertaken at UCL Australia included efforts to address problems in water processing for coal seam gas (coal bed methane), design evaporative cooling systems for buildings using sea water and develop integrated energy systems for sustainable wine production.
[12] The International Energy Policy Institute (IEPI) was housed on the Adelaide campus of University College London, Australia.
Research at IEPI was focused on upstream (exploration and production) issues, acknowledging the Asia Pacific region's influence on global Coal, nuclear and gas markets, and its growing uptake in renewable energy.
Simons has acknowledged that asking "whether Australia could, and should, develop a nuclear power service industry based on uranium enrichment and fuel rod manufacture for the global market" is a key theme of the Institute's work.
On UCL's role in the process he wrote: University College London’s International Energy Policy Institute (IEPI), based at its Australia campus in Adelaide, undertakes economic, regulatory and policy research on how Australia could develop a nuclear energy industry and manage its externalities, including decommissioning and waste.
"[36]In late 2013, UCL staff and students contributed to conference papers investigating the subject of nuclear submarine development in Australia.
[40] He is also a former Managing Director of Pangea Resources, the proponent of a proposal to establish a nuclear waste dump in Australia in the late 1990s.
[37] In April 2015, Visiting Professor Dr Timothy Stone was appointed to the Expert Advisory Committee of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission, an inquiry initiated at the request the Government of South Australia.
[44] UCL Australia established a Nuclear Working Group "to share scientific knowledge in relation to the main issues identified by the Royal Commission; to assist and facilitate the process leading up to informed community decisions".
Group members include: Magnus Nyden (Head), Christian Ekberg, Paola Lettieri, Jonathan Mirrlees-Black, Michael Pollitt, Tim Stone, Pam Sykes, Geraldine Thomas, Jim Voss and Max Zanin.
