CNS Council Members
2024 – 2025 Executive
| Member | Affiliation | Executive Position |
|---|---|---|
| Derek Mullin | New Brunswick Power | President |
| Doddy Kastanya | Kinectrics Inc. | Past President |
| Peter Ottensmeyer | Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto | 1st Vice-President |
| Khashayar Ghandi | Professor, University of Guelph | 2nd Vice-President |
| Mohamed Younis | AMEC FW Retiree | Treasurer |
| Ruth Burany | Kinectrics Inc. | Secretary |
If you are a member of the executive, click here to access the executive files.
Council
| Member | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Aman Usmani | Kinectrics Inc. |
| Arthur Situm | University of Regina |
| Andrea Armstrong | Nuclear Scientist |
| Benjamin Xu | Y&Y Consulting Inc |
| Cheryl Tasker-Shaw | CTS Consulting |
| Christopher Rees | Risktec Solutions Canada |
| Colin Hunt | Retired |
| Daniel Gammage | Kinectrics Inc. |
| David Hummel | Canadian Nuclear Laboratories |
| Doddy Kastanya | Kinectrics Inc. |
| Guy Hotte | Kinectrics Inc. |
| Guy Marleau | École Polytechnique Montreal |
| Ian Wigginton | Kinectrics Inc. |
| John Gorman | Canadian Nuclear Association |
| Kamal Verma | Laurentis |
| Keith Stratton | Stratton Consulting Inc. |
| Khashayar Ghandi | University of Guelph |
| Michael Krause | Accenture |
| Mohamed Younis | AMEC FW Retiree |
| Mohammadreza Baghbanan | OPG |
| Mohinder Grover | M.S. Grover & Associates |
| Olga Palazhchenko | New Brunswick Power |
| Peter Ottensmeyer | Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto |
| Peter Easton | Retired |
| Reeghan Osmond | Canadian Nuclear Laboratories |
| Rob Whittleston | Atomic Energy of Canada Limited |
| Ruth Burany | Kinectrics Inc. |
| Siddharth Raval | New Brunswick Power |
CNS Office
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Redstone Agency | Office Administrator |
| Neil Alexander | Head of Communications |
| Thea Hulsmans | Web Administrator |
Technical Divisions
| Division | Chair |
|---|---|
| Environment, Waste Management & Decommissioning | Dr. Khashayar Ghandi, University of Guelph; Ian Wigginton, Kinectrics Inc. |
| Fuel Technologies Division | Mukesh Tayal, Nueva Science Incorporated Raheel Hameed, Cameco Fuel Manufacturing |
| Nuclear Operations and Maintenance (NOM) | Siddharth Raval, New Brunswick Power; Benjamin Xu, Y&Y Consulting Inc |
| Fusion Energy and Accelerator Science and Technology | Blair Bromley, CNL; Peter Schwanke, Ontario Tech University |
| Generation IV and Small Reactors | Larisa Logan, CSA Group; David Hummel, CNL; Arthur Situm, University of Regina |
| Materials, Chemistry and Fitness for Service | Mohammadreza Baghbanan, OPG; Daniel Gammage, Kinectrics Inc. |
| Nuclear Science & Engineering | Wei Shen, COG; Ben Rouben, 12 & 1 Consulting |
| Science and Technology of Radioisotopes | Eleodor Nichita, Ontario Tech University; Andrea Armstrongm, Independant |
| Disruptive, Innovative and Emerging Technology (DIET) | Moe Fadaee, Kinectrics Inc; Kevin Lee, CNSC |
| Space Nuclear Applications Division (SNAP-D) | Blair Bromley, CNL; Justin Spencer, CNL |
CNS Committees
| Committee | Chair | Members |
|---|---|---|
| Finance | Mohamed Younis, Doddy Kastanya | Keith Stratton, Daniel Gammage, Adriaan Buijs, Mohinder Grover, Aman Usmani |
| Program Committee | Guy Marleau, Peter Ottensmeyer | |
| International Liaison and Inter-society Relations | Peter Ozemoyah, Reeghan Osmond | Benjamin Rouben, 12 & 1 Consulting |
| Business Support | Arthur Situm, Keith Stratton | Cheryl Tasker-Shaw (Marketing), Arthur Situm (Website Director), Keith Stratton, Jacques A. Plourde |
| Branch Affairs | Doddy Kastanya, Raphael Schirrer | |
| Government and Regulatory Affairs Committee | Colin Hunt and Peter Easton | |
| Strategic Planning | Paul Spekkens, Jacques Plourde | |
| Education and Communications | Peter Ottensmeyer, Matt Dalzell | |
| Honours and Awards | Ujjal Mondal, Kamal Verma | Peter Ozemoyah, Robert Walker, Kamal Verma, Keith Stratton, Benjamin Rouben, Jeremy J. Whitlock, Derek Mullin, Ovidiu Nainer, W.C.H. (Bill) Kupferschmidt, Mohinder Singh Grover, Aman Usmani, Daniel Gammage, John Gorman |
| Membership | Guy Hotte Vacant (co-chair) | |
| Scholarship | Mohamed Younis,Adriaan Buijs | Doddy Kastanya, Wei Shen, Mohinder Singh Grover, Arthur Situm, Jadranka Popovic |
| Publications | Vacant | |
| CNSC Contribution Agreement Chair | Keith Stratton |
Subcommittee of the Executive
| Committee | Chair | Members |
|---|---|---|
| The Contracts Committee | Mohamed Younis | Mohinder Singh Grover, Peter Ozemoyah, Guy Hotte, Kamal Verma, Aman Usmani |
Branches
| Branch | Chair |
|---|---|
| Bruce | Jean Sylvester |
| Ontario Tech | Adam Robinson & Hamzah Haddad |
| Western | Jason MKC Donev & Raphaël Schirrer |
| Chalk River | Andrew C. Morreale |
| Durham | Nicholas Preston |
| Golden Horseshoe | Stephen Marshall & Peter Kriemadis |
| Manitoba | Jason Martino |
| New Brunswick | Derek Mullin |
| Ottawa | Ken Kirkhope |
| Sheridan Park | Rajendra Jain |
| Toronto | Michael Krause |
Past CNS Presidents
| Duration | President |
|---|---|
| 2023-24 | Doddy Kastanya |
| 2022-23 | Guy Hotte |
| 2021-22 | Kamal Verma |
| 2020-21 | Aman Usmani |
| 2019-20 | Keith Stratton |
| 2018-19 | John Luxat |
| 2017-18 | Daniel Gammage |
| 2016-17 | Peter Ozemoyah |
| 2015-16 | Paul D. Thompson |
| 2014-15 | Jacques Plourde |
| 2013-14 | Adriaan Buijs |
| 2012-13 | John Roberts |
| 2011-12 | Frank Doyle |
| 2010-11 | Adriaan Buijs |
| 2009-10 | Dorin Nichita |
| 2008-09 | Jim Harvie |
| 2007-08 | Eric Williams |
| 2006-07 | Dan Meneley |
| 2005-06 | John Luxat |
| 2004-05 | Bill Schneider |
| 2003-04 | Jeremy Whitlock |
| 2002-03 | Ian Wilson |
| 2001-02 | Dave Jackson |
| 2000-01 | Ken Smith |
| 1999-00 | Krish Krishnan |
| 1998-99 | Paul Thompson |
| 1997-98 | Ben Rouben |
| 1996-97 | Hong Huynh |
| 1995-96 | Jerry Cuttler |
| 1994-95 | Ed Price |
| 1993-94 | Paul Fehrenbach |
| 1992-93 | Bill Midvidy |
| 1991-92 | Gil Phillips |
| 1990-91 | Hugues Bonin |
| 1989-90 | Eva Rosinger |
| 1988-89 | Ken Talbot |
| 1987-88 | Irwin Itzkovich |
| 1986-87 | Nabila Yousef |
| 1985-86 | Joe Howieson |
| 1984-85 | Peter Stevens-Guille |
| 1983-84 | John Hewitt |
| 1982-83 | Phil Ross-Ross |
| 1981-82 | Phil Ross-Ross |
| 1980-81 | George Howey |
Past President Biographies
Dr. Kastanya received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in nuclear engineering from North Carolina State University. He joined the Canadian nuclear industry in 2005 as a Reactor Physicist in the Reactor Core Physics branch of the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) at Sheridan Park. His area of expertise are computational reactor physics, safety analysis, regional/neutron overpower protection (ROP/NOP) for CANDU design, and mathematical optimization for nuclear engineering applications.
Dr. Kastanya has served as a technical lead for many reactor-physics projects and authored/co-authored more than 200 technical reports during his tenure at AECL, Candu Energy, and Kinectrics. He has published 34 articles in international nuclear engineering journals, 3 articles in Canadian Mathematical Society Crux Mathematicorum scientific journal, 27 full-length conference papers, and 11 summary conference papers. In addition to writing technical papers, he also served as a member of many technical program committees for international nuclear engineering conferences such as PHYSOR, Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference (PBNC), Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management (ANFM), and, of course, the CNS Annual Conferences. Dr. Kastanya has also served as a member of the Editorial Board for three international nuclear engineering journals namely Progress in Nuclear Energy since 2015, Annals of Nuclear Energy since 2020, and Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations since 2022.
He has been a member-at-large of the CNS Council since 2018. He has been actively supporting many committees of the CNS (e.g., finance, education and communication, scholarship, and membership). As part of his involvement with the education and communication committee, in 2023 he initiated an annual nuclear-themed essay contest for high-school students. For the council year 2023/2024, Dr. Kastanya served as the President of the CNS. He was appointed as a Fellow of the Canadian Nuclear Society at its annual conference in Saskatoon in June 2024.
Aman has over 40 years of distinguished career in NPP design, analysis and management and has held various design engineering and management positions at AECL, AMEC Foster Wheeler Nuclear Canada and Kinectrics where he is currently employed in a management position as Principal Consultant.
Aman is a longtime member of CNS council, past Co-Chair of Nuclear Operations and Maintenance division, organized and served as Chair of 2017 CANDU Maintenance and Nuclear Components conference. He was General Chair of the 2020 and Co-Chair of 2021 CNS Annual Conferences.
Aman was President of CNS (2020-2021) and served on various CNS sub-committees including Strategic planning, Finance and contract review.
He is Co-Chair of the Structure Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT28) International Conference Aman was Chair of the CSA N289 Technical Committee on seismic design (2013-2019), and member of its subcommittees, led and contributed to preparation and harmonization of CNS Seismic standards.
Dr. Usmani is Chair of CSME Technical committee on Engineering Analysis and Design and associate editor of the CSME Journal. He is a reviewer of the ASME PVP Journal.
He has authored and co-authored several technical papers.
Dr. Usmani won several awards and honours that include the AECL President’s Discovery and Distinguished Merit Awards, Fellow of CNS, Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineers (CSME) 2002 Robert W. Angus Medal, Fellow of CSME (2017) and Fellow of Engineering Institute of Canada(2022).
Aman Served on various charitable organization fund raising committees including Canadian Cancer Society, Arthritis Society of Canada, and March of Dime.
Born & raised in Edmundston, NB. P.Eng (ON). Over 45 years of experience in the nuclear
industry (AECL, Ontario Hydro, OPG, NIAC) in various roles. Currently risk control engineering for
the Canadian nuclear insurance Pool, focusing on SMRs. Charter member and Past-President of
the CNS. Member of PEO, OSPE, ANS and OCNI. Fluent in English and French.
Adriaan was with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) from 2001 to 2008, first as senior scientist in safety and licensing in the Reactor Core Physics division, then as section head for neutronic overpower protection in CANDU reactors. In 2006 he became manager of the Physics Design group for the ACR-1000.
In January 2009 Adriaan was appointed professor in the Engineering Physics Department of McMaster University in Hamilton. He was an associate chair in the department and had research projects in thorium-fuelled CANDU reactors, GEN-IV super-critical-water reactors and projects with the McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR). His current interest is in the physics design of Small Modular Reactors.
Adriaan has a Master’s and a PhD degree in experimental physics from the State University in Utrecht.
Adriaan was chair of the Sheridan Park Branch of the Canadian Nuclear Society (CNS) from 2004 to 2008, secretary of the CNS from 2004 to 2006, and president in 2010/11 and again in 2013/14. He was the general chair of the 2023 International Conference on Mathematics and Computation in Nuclear Science and Engineering in Niagara Falls.
Dr. Jeremy Whitlock is a Senior Technical Advisor in the Department of Safeguards at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with three decades as a scientist and manager in the Canadian and international nuclear community.
Prior to his move to the IAEA in 2017 he worked for 22 years at AECL and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, in both reactor physics and non-proliferation R&D.
Dr. Whitlock has a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Waterloo (1988), and an M.Eng. and PhD in Engineering Physics (reactor physics) from McMaster University (1995).
He is a Past-President, Fellow, and former Communications Director of the Canadian Nuclear Society. Since 1997 he has also maintained the Canadian Nuclear FAQ (www.nuclearfaq.ca), which he’s proudly heard described (he thinks in a good way) as the OG website on Canadian nuclear technology.
Dr. Whitlock lives in Vienna, Austria, and feels that canoes are the closest humans have come to inventing a perfect machine.
Paul graduated from the Engineering Mathematics program at Queen’s University specializing in the fields of Thermal Sciences and Nuclear Engineering. He has spent over 44 years in the Nuclear Power industry working in various technical and senior managerial roles at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and New Brunswick Power. He has a long history of involvement on various industry wide technical and steering committees as well as special projects.
Paul has previously held the positions of NB Power Deputy chief Nuclear Officer, as well as being the NB Power member on the Candu Owners Group Board of Directors and the Advisory board for the Centre for Nuclear Energy Research before retiring from NB Power.
Since retirement, Paul has worked on contract with NB Power as the Senior Strategic Advisor for the Advanced Reactor Development team at NB Power, providing strategic advice, interface with the industry, and responsible for oversight of areas involving fuel, reprocessing and radioactive waste. He was a member of the Steering Committee that developed the Pan-Canadian SMR Roadmap, the CEO SMR Forum Working group, the COG SMR Technology forum and the team supporting the Inter-Provincial MOU on SMRs.
Paul is also the Executive Advisor for Clean Core Thorium Energy, a company developing an evolutionary thoria-uranium advanced fuel for use in pressurized heavy water reactors.
Paul has twice held the position of President of the Canadian Nuclear Society and is recognized as a Fellow of the Canadian Nuclear Society. In June 2020, Paul received the Canadian Nuclear Society/Canadian Nuclear Association Harold A. Smith Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Ben Rouben is a reactor physicist. He was Manager of the Core Reactor Physics Branch at AECL Sheridan Park from 1993 to 2006. Following retirement from AECL, Ben became a Consultant (12 & 1 Consulting) and an Adjunct Professor at McMaster University and University of Ontario Institute of Technology (now Ontario Tech). Ben also became Secretary/Treasurer of UNENE (the University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering), at the same time teaching M.Eng. courses for UNENE.
Ben served as CNS president in 1997-1998, and oversaw the successful initiative for the CNS to separate from the CNA and attain status as a distinct not-for-profit corporation. Ben later served as CNS Executive Administrator for about 10 years, until 2019.
Ben was voted Fellow of the CNS in 1998.