Nuclear Specialist Services Legal – Regulatory – Technical - Commercial with Technical Associates

Andrew Renton

Nuclear Specialist Services Legal – Regulatory – Technical - Commercial with Technical Associates

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Nuclear Specialist Advisory Services

Castletown Law with specialist third-party Technical Consultants* provides comprehensive support and advisory services (legal, regulatory, commercial and financial) for the nuclear sector. Our advice is underpinned by highly experienced technical expertise, ensuring our solutions are securely based in practical understanding of the nuclear delivery ecosystem and environment and tailored to the full project lifecycle.

Our objective is:

- to support jurisdictions in the creation of a national framework for legislation, regulation and management of nuclear development risks and to provide support for the national capabilities required.

- to link that support through to the development of projects for civil nuclear infrastructure, followed by deployment, providing a continuum of support across all the relevant areas and limiting the risk profile for GW (and modular GW), SMR and GEN IV technologies.

* Technical Consultant means an independent consultant working in collaboration with CTL whose work is managed and delivered by CTL.

Development of Nuclear Power Projects

- For countries wishing to develop civil nuclear energy assets , the CTL team covers the requirements of the IAEA and the international treaties,agreements and regulatory cooperation agreements as a basis for a deliverable development process for a nuclear power programme. It is a phased comprehensive method to assist countries that are considering or planning their first nuclear power plant.

- CTL’s offer provides the necessary expertise to advise key stake holders (government, regulatory bodies, developers and operators(including design and technical authorities)) on the scope, specification and delivery of functions to set the baseline for successful introduction of nuclear power projects.

- The context for what follows in this presentation is the 19 milestones prescribed by the IAEA as mandatory requirements for the consent to develop and deploy civil nuclear technology and assets in any jurisdiction.

- As set out in this presentation Castletown Law and its associates act as a single-source resource to support the government and developers thorough these mandatory steps and to support the deployment, commission and operation of civil nuclear assets.

EXPERTISE - Supporting Government

Enabling the relevant information on legislative and regulatory requirements and structures to be provided to help decision-makers make informed and intelligent decisions.Examples:

- Recommendations on best practice to meet IAEA requirements.

- Maintaining relationship guidance for IAEA approvals and mission interfaces.

- Capacity to enable adoption of other state technology approvals.

- Criteria to enable third-party NNP developers to operate in the jurisdiction.

- Treaty indemnities and insurance obligations advice.

- Assessing the need for additional legislation and regulation to enable nuclear development and deployment.

- Reviewing existing internal competencies, capabilities and need for training, education and development of skills.

- Analysis of local capacity and supply chain to support NNP in the jurisdiction.

- Nuclear Research, Development and Innovation needs.

EXPERTISE - Legislation and Regulation

Specialists advising in Energy and Infrastructure sector projects in multiple jurisdictions:

- International treaty and legal obligations.

- Transport of nuclear materials between jurisdictions.

- Certification and licensing of products and components across jurisdictions.

- Operator and compliance with international standards.

- Insurance and indemnity structures.

- Site characterisation and licencing standards to be applied.

- New EPCM structures and delivery risk sharing.

- Safety and security compliance with international standards.

- Commissioning permissions and certification analysis.

- Operating contracts, subcontracts and suppliers.

EXPERTISE - Procurement and Transactions

- Compliance standards and understanding of process.

- Jurisdictional control and regulatory authority competence and expertise.

- Commencement of procurement process from internal stakeholder inputs.

- GAP analysis and identification of required inputs.

- Land availability, suitability and location.

- Consenting structures and developer competence certification.

- Land lease and consenting agreements.

- Equity shareholding and joint ventures, GoCo’s and Consortia agreements.

- Electricity and output offtake agreements.

- Product supply – energy infrastructure equipment.

EXPERTISE - Procurement and Transactions

Assessing and sifting participants and advising on criteria for procurement of delivery partners:

- Due diligence on participants - including security and safety track record analysis.

- Viability assessment on participants capabilities.

- Confidential discussion memoranda and heads of topics.

- Strategic site assessment (including access and connectivity) and site characterisation.

- Integration of technical requirements into relevant planning and development consent legislation for jurisdiction.

- Supporting preparation and submission of technical proposals for regulatory compliance and approvals.

- Local and national stakeholder information and involvement in process.

EXPERTISE - New Build and Advanced Nuclear

Advising Governments on the road map process for development of processes and administrative structures required to meet IAEA and jurisdictional requirements:

- Environmental permits.

- Education and information dissemination to stakeholders and public.

- Training on all aspects of nuclear development across the supply chain.

- Corporate governance issues and identification of relevant standards.

- Technology approval, including adoption of prior approvals from other jurisdictions.

- Regulatory advice, including the relevant approach for applying regulation requirements.

- Project finance, and consortia funding approaches.

- Fuel and materials transportation.

- Stakeholder engagement and management.

EXPERTISE - NNB

Interface Owner’s Engineer

- Technical Interface with OE and Vendor.

- Support in Engineering Development Agreement (EDA) process.

Contracting & Technical Negotiations

- EPC, supply-chain and fuel-procurement negotiations.

- Define risk-share, payment milestones & performance guarantees.

- Perform technical due diligence & value engineering.

Fuel Cycle Management &Technical Advisory

- Advise on fuel design, licensing, procurement strategy & vendor tech transfer.

- Support in-core management, performance monitoring & transport logistics.

- Interface with fuel vendors on R&D and lifecycle cost.

EXPERTISE - NNB

Licensing & Regulatory Support

- Liaise with nuclear regulator, environment & safety authorities.

- Implement QA/QC per IAEA, WENRA & Polish regulations.

Localisation & Supply-Chain Development

- Identify and pre-qualify local OEMs for pumps, valves, steel & automation.

- Conduct equivalency studies and technical audits.

- Drive localization targets, traceability & cost benchmarking.

Capacity Building & Knowledge Transfer

- Design training programs on technology, safety culture & OE best practices.

- Mentor local teams and nuclear regulator inspectors- including regular lessons learned sessions.

EXPERTISE - NNB

Organisational Development Support

- Organisation structure and resourcing for evolving stages of NEPIO and projects, including intelligent customer and commercial arrangements.

- Organisation for specification and oversight management of procurement (commercial, legal,technical).

- Nuclear regulator responsibilities and delivery.

- Enduring Design Authority and links to Technical Support, Owner’s Engineer, etc.

EXPERTISE - Operational Fleet

Experience across several projects in different jurisdictions allows us to support:

- Strategic advice

- Nuclear liability

- Legal oversight of operational contracts and arrangements

- Insurance and indemnities

- Technical compliance

- Planned and unplanned outage management

- Life extension

- Export controls and safeguards

- Nuclear security

- Safety case issues

EXPERTISE - Decommissioning

- Gas and graphite cooled reactor decommissioning plans.

- Reactor housing and structure deconstruction and downsizing.

- Spent fuel and irradiated material management and storage.

- Site clean up and environmental compliance of residual sites.

- Decommissioning process management contracts.

- Framework Agreements for post operational management.

- Procurement of qualified decommissioning contractors.

- Nuclear indemnity and risk management issues.

- Funded decommissioning.

Our Legal Advice is Underpinned by
Technical Experience

Project Management & Contracting

- Experience from vendor,utility and owner’s engineer roles to inform contract negotiations and localization strategies.

Nuclear Safety, Licensing & Waste Management

- Accredited Radiation Protection Specialist with 35+ years of experiences, ensuring out regulatory advice aligns with IAEA standards and safety cases.

Construction & Engineering Oversight

- Multidisciplinary engineer who technical due diligence for deliverability during design, construction and commissioning.

Legal Framework for Module Factory Investment

Legal and corporate frameworks to support the investment:

Guarantees& Bonds

- Structure local-content bonds and draft construction contracts with performance guarantees.

Informed Decision Making

- Our legal advice is supported by financial modelling to determine the project pipeline required to justify the investment.

JV/Equity Structuring

- Draft Joint Venture agreements, equity triggers, and financing documents.

Site& Permitting

- Advise on site permits and negotiate land-lease agreements and tax incentives.

Castletown Law Team

Andrew Renton

Andrew has been involved in advising clients in the nuclear sector since the mid-1990s. He leads on commercial and industry related issues and is a leading solicitor in the energy and infrastructure industry, who specialises in commercial aspects of the sector across multiple jurisdictions. His approach to transaction and mandate management is endorsed and praised by clients, and he is particularly known for structuring the architecture of complex projects and achieving a solution-based outcome for clients in some exceptionally complex multinational projects. He brings a strategic mindset to cross-border mandates, aligning legal frameworks with commercial outcomes to support long-term project success. Andrew’s ability to integrate technical understanding with legal precision makes him a trusted advisor in high-stakes environment.

Simon Stuttaford

Simon leads on Nuclear and Regulatory matters covering major projects from an environmental, planning and compliance point of view. His experience includes appointments as a leading team member on legal matters for Horizon Nuclear Power and as General Counsel and Company Secretary for Energy Solutions(PBO for Magnox Ltd, SLC). Simon was a Partner with the Legal Practice DWF where he was Head of Nuclear and Joint Head of Environment. Simon has developed and delivered an online Master’s level module on Nuclear Law for the University of Birmingham. He is known for his ability to navigate complex regulatory frameworks and deliver commercially focus solutions across multiple jurisdictions. Simon’s deep sector knowledge and collaborative approach make him a trusted advisor in both nuclear and renewables projects.

Louis Plowden-Wardlaw

Louis is a seasoned solicitor specializing in cross-border nuclear law, banking, and corporate transactions. Louis brings extensive expertise in cross-border nuclear law, banking, corporate law, and financial advisory, working with clients in North America, UK, Europe and beyond. His diverse experience includes advising leading institutions such as Royal Bank of Canada and North Asset Management on a range of complex transactions, including the full range of banking law, asset sales and corporate acquisitions, project finance in the energy sector, derivatives, fund structuring, and managing high-profile litigation as well as advising a host of businesses traversing the journey from start up to exit.

Eman Abuzeid

Based in the Middle East between Amman, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Eman graduated from Bristol University in the UK, with an LLB and LLM and is a registered Attorney at the Jordanian Bar Association. She has over 30 years’ experience as a lawyer and advisor in the Middle East including Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman as well as in the Emirates, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. Eman has specialised in energy and infrastructure projects, most recently in supporting clients in relation to nuclear developments for advanced technologies in the UAE and the Middle East region. Eman has worked on projects and transactions with particular focus on energy, infrastructure, transport and security. Trained initially in court work, Eman maintains a significant dispute resolution capability.

Maroof Mittha

Maroof is a dual-qualified Solicitor in England & Wales, as well as Pakistan. He advises on energy and infrastructure matters with a focus on international nuclear regulation and transactions. Recently, he has supported Simon in reviewing the International and EU nuclear legal frameworks to identify changes required in Estonian legislation. In the UK context, he has advised on the law and regulation of Plutonium stockpiles, the use of Americium, a review of the legislative framework in the context of advanced nuclear, the UK taxonomy regime for nuclear as a clean power source, and additionality criteria for fuels produced from nuclear energy. During his LLM in International Energy Law and Policy, Maroof focused on EU and International Nuclear Law, as well as the legal framework for international project finance. In 2024, he was selected to attend and participate in the International School of Nuclear Law at the University of Montpellier, France.

William Wilson

William is an independent barrister and legal consultant, expert environmental and energy lawyer, with 25years’ experience, in government, consultancy and private practice. He worked for 9 years in the UK Government Legal Service at the Department of the Environment/DETR/Defra, which included managing UK and EU legislation, advising Ministers and the Department on UK and EU radioactive substances law. For example, on Sellafield THORP, MOX and emissions decisions and cases, drafting and implementing EU legislation such as the Basic Safety Standards Directive and advising on environmental and nuclear law issues concerning the Atomic Weapons Establishments.

Andrew Walters

Andrew brings over 30 years of experience as a Town Planner and Environmental Lawyer, with a strong track record in advising on major infrastructure projects and environmental policy across the UK and internationally. His diverse expertise spans development consent for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in England,complex infrastructure consents in Scotland and Wales, and strategic advisory roles across energy, transport, and environmental sectors. He has advised on a wide range of major developments including nuclear new build and advanced nuclear technologies ,energy transmission, wind and solar projects, airport expansions, deep-water ports, heavy and light rail systems, and energy-from-waste facilities.

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Technical Associates

Yogesh Parmar

Eneq Consult

Yogesh has been in the nuclear business since 1993 across several key positions such as engineer, core designer, project manager, group lead,department head and Business area head. He has worked for a vendor/supplier(ABB Atom today Westinghouse), a utility (Axpo and BKW) and also a consulting engineering Company (AF-Consult, now AFRY). His experience includes managing and contracting for nuclear new build projects,owners and vendors engineering lead for new build organisations (all phases of implementation), safety case and design phase management and expertise, site characterisation and preparation of licensing documentation from siting to operation. His areas of expertise of nuclear fuel management include Whole Fuel Cycle: Licensing, Manufacturing, Nuclear design and in-core fuel management.

Abrie Visagie

Eneq Consult

Abrie is a Professional Natural Science Technologist (Reg. No. 300012/03) and accredited Radiation Protection Specialist with comprehensive knowledge of radiation protection,nuclear & radiation safety and licensing, nuclear decommissioning/ remediation and radioactive waste management. He has more than 35-years of experience in the operational support of nuclear and radiation facilities covering all facility phases from design to decommissioning and more than 10-years of experience on advising and setting of standards in the listed disciplines on international level and mainly via the IAEA. He functioned in various specialist and senior management positions at Necsa and was the Winner of the President’s Award as the Necsa performer of the year in 1997.

Gerhard Schalkwyk

Eneq Consult

Gerhard is a multidisciplinary engineering consultant with 15+years’ experience in the design, development, safety assessment, and optimisation of nuclear and radiation facilities and activities, and performing technical oversight and assurance for complex nuclear projects. With a background in both Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, he excels in verifying that nuclear activities comply with design requirements, safety cases, and quality standards. Gerhard has consulted on international nuclear, radiation and radioactive waste management projects in Sweden, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine, Malaysia and South Africa, amongst others. His areas of expertise include project oversight,technical & design verification and integrated management systems (IMS)& auditing.

Mike Lewis

Lewis Consulting

Mike is a chartered nuclear engineer with over 40 years’ experience in the nuclear sector in the UK and internationally (Europe, Canada, Middle East). He brings knowledge and insight from positions in nuclear design,engineering, operations, and expert services, for established and new build nuclear facilities. Mike’s principal technical expertise lies in the technology, safety and risk assessment, organisational development, siting and licensing of nuclear power stations. Mike provided an early nuclear ‘roadmap’ and support to a NEPIO applying the IAEA’s 19 Milestones. He now provides expert advice to UK nuclear safety committees and to organisations in the UK and internationally on the potential applications of nuclear technology. Mike is now the Director of Lewis Risk Consulting Limited and a member of the UK’s Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board.

Dougald Middleton

Independent Consultant

Dougald is an experienced financial and strategic advisor,currently serving as an advisor to the Department for Energy Security and NetZero (DESNZ) on its New Nuclear Programme, as well as to the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB). He brings deep expertise from his previous roles as a Senior Partner in the Corporate Finance Group at EY and as a Director in the Structured Finance Group at RBS, where heled complex transactions and advised on major infrastructure and energy projects.