Daqing Cui

"Studsvik’s experience and competence are very valuable for the global nuclear industry”

Daqing Cui grew up in China and did his initial university studies at Beijing university. After working seven years for the Chinese Ministry of Nuclear Industry he came to Sweden as PhD-student in 1989.  In 1999 he started working for Studsvik with focus on deep geological disposal projects. He is a docent (supervisor of PhD students), qualified by Royal Institute of TechnologySince 2013 Daqing has managed Studsvik marketing activities in China and shares his time between the offices in Studsvik and Beijing.

Can you describe what your role in Studsvik includes?

Today I am mainly working with marketing and sales for the Studsvik group activities and as a senior specialist on R&D on nuclear waste disposal. My background and network in Asia and Europe enable us to reach out to new customers globally.  I used to work for governmental authorities and European commission, this network is still of great use. I am convinced that Studsvik’s experience and competence are very valuable for global nuclear industry.

Describe something Studsvik has supported a customer with that you are especially proud of.

Since 2008, Studsvik had tried to invite Chinese nuclear power companies to participate in the Studsvik Cladding Integrity Project (SCIP). After several meetings and discussions, NSC under Chinese nuclear safety inspectors agree to coordinate all three nuclear power companies to participate SCIP III. In 2008 China entered SCIP and the results from SCIP has supported the Chinese nuclear power companies to further improve nuclear safety and efficiency. The model of Chinese participating SCIP III can be used for other international projects such as the planned Studsvik Material Integrity Life Extension Project (SMILE) program. Chinese nuclear safety inspectors listed the success of participating in SCIP III as the top international cooperation project in nuclear power safety.

As a senior specialist and project manager, I designed and coordinated a long term spent fuel hot cell leaching experiment at Studsvik. The Import roles of anoxic disposal environment, iron canister materials, hydrogen produced by iron corrosion and epsilon fission product alloy particles were demonstrated. This result was published at Energy and Environmental Science (IF 33.25) and is useful for the safety assessment of nuclear waste repository.

In your view, what main challenge is the nuclear community facing?

In my view the main challenge that nuclear power community facing is public acceptance. People in general know very little about nuclear science, and I have even seen fake information leading to confusion or anti-nuclear attitudes. The nuclear community needs to be better at educating the public with real facts. On this theme I have made two Chinese TV interviews and one education program in China on radiation protection and nuclear power safety.“

Can you tell something great about Studsvik?

I really enjoy the straight forward and open atmosphere here at Studsvik. With less bureaucracy we can focus on being flexible and realistic, which is of great benefit also to our customers. Since Studsvik is a public listed company, we need to be efficient to survive, people here are therefore keen on learning about new applications and how techniques can be developed to achieve most value.