Simon Adu is a research scientist with AFRICSIS. He is particularly interested in reactor safety and highly enriched uranium (HEU) minimization. In addition to his work with our team, he has been a research scientist at the Radiation Protection Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission since 2009 and has been teaching a nuclear safety and security course there since 2011. Prior to joining AFRICSIS, Simon was the technical nonproliferation and disarmament Fellow to the United Kingdom – Norway Initiative at the Centre for Accelerator-based Research and Energy Physics in 2012, where he strengthened HEU minimization efforts in Africa by launching a modelling study on the feasibility of converting HEU to low-enriched uranium (LEU) in nuclear reactor cores. He also works as a nuclear safety officer at the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Ghana, as well as lecturing at the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Science.  

Simon has received certifications from numerous nuclear safety and security training programs, including the IAEA Workshop on synergy between safety and security of research reactors in Vienna, a professional development course on nuclear security education at King’s College London (KCL), the IAEA-ICTP International School on Nuclear Security in Trieste, and an IAEA International workshop on developing safety infrastructure for a research reactor in an emerging nuclear power state in Illinois. He has also attended an IAEA inter-regional workshop on the Regulatory Authority Information System (RAIS) in Vienna, an international training course on the physical protection of nuclear materials and nuclear facilities in New Mexico, and an IAEA regional training course on the physical protection of research reactors in Cairo. Furthermore, he has been involved in the IAEA/KCL professional development course on nuclear security.

Simon holds a B.S. in Physics (Hons.) from the University of Cape (2005, Ghana), a Master of Philosophy in Radiation Protection from the School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (2008, Ghana), and a Ph.D. from the University of Ghana. He is a member of the World Institute of Nuclear Security (WINS) and the International Network of Emerging Nuclear Specialists (INENS).