Jonathan Keep Email & Phone Number

Piddington, Gb

Culham, Oxfordshire & West Burton, Nottinghamshire, Uk

STEP whole plant system architect and owner providing technical direction and leadership to drive development of a concept for the STEP prototype powerplant. Providing technical oversight of the overall powerplant design drawing together the major elements and systems into a single coherent concept. Primary objective of the role is to maintain the technical integrity of the concept through close engagement and collaboration with the wide range of expertise across the whole STEP programme.STEP is a UK programme to lead the delivery of a fusion powerplant by 2040. The STEP powerplant will be built in West Burton, North Notts.

Culham, Oxfordshire, Uk

STEP whole plant system architect and owner providing technical direction and leadership to drive development of a concept for the STEP prototype powerplant. Providing technical oversight of the overall powerplant design drawing together the major elements and systems into a single coherent concept. Primary objective of the role is to maintain the technical integrity of the concept through close engagement and collaboration with the wide range of expertise across the whole STEP programme.STEP is a UK programme to lead the delivery of a fusion powerplant by 2040. The STEP powerplant will be built in West Burton, North Notts.

Continuing lead engineer for the TARM project, with a view to completing the commissioning work and getting the facility compliant ready for future remote maintenance development operations.I also have taken on a new role leading a design itegration project as part of the EU-DEMO project, evaluating and developing an alternative architecture for DEMO, based on a 'double null' configuration. This invovles leading a dedicated design integration team and working closely with the remote maintenance team, along with integrating requirements from the other influencing technology programmes (e.g. Breeding blankets, divertor etc.) to develop an alternative architectural concept.From June 2020 I moved onto the STEP programme becoming a lead for the Whole Plant Design team. Worked to develop a methodology to enable exploration of concepts for the STEP prototype powerplant. This enabled range of concepts to be studied quickly to varying levels of maturity identifying and understanding key design tensions and constraints. Concept developments focused on leading to short list of key plant architecture defining decisions. The key challenge of this role was while the whole plant design team initiated the concept studies and methodology, the resource the technical expertise required were held across the 6 other major technical product teams across the programme. Significant effort was required to ensure engagement from the wider STEP programme to ensure the concept design objectives could be achieved.

Worked on design of components for the ITER Neutral Beam. Within this project I was responsible for design of components that provide connection between the beam hardware itself and the vacuum vessel.My next project was looking at the remote maintenance of Breeding blankets for the EU-DEMO fusion reactor design. I lead a small team developing a design for a large multi-DOF transporter device that was capable of manouevring 10m tall blanket segments, of up to 80 tonnes mass into and out of the reactor, with clearances in some areas of 2cm. As this project evolved a parallel programme of work started which was dedicated to using a large remote maintenance tool from the JET project that had been left out of use in long term storage. This was identifed as a potential device to be used to develop advanced control technologies, that may enable handling of large payloads such as the breeding blankets safely, quickly and effectively. I was designated lead engineer for this work and lead a multi-disciplinary engineering team that (during the peak assembly phase of the project) of approx 30 people. This work involved design, planning of large scale manufacture and assembly work and extensive electrical and control system re-design and refurbishment. Videos: https://youtu.be/mkkEUijTy-E and https://youtu.be/BFEzYu-ZNfI show some elements of the project.

Responsible for design of various engine systems and components.On most recent project I was key design liaison with customer for installation and integration of engine into car, providing support and guidance during design and continuing onto prototype build and testing.I was also responsible for ensuring first prototype engines were built on schedule - coordinating procurement of parts, and working with engine build technicians to identify and resolve any issues relating to either supply or design and specification of components.Management of smaller scale engine projects.

I was responsible for the design, development and manufacture of components for the whole fuel system, including composite fuel ‘bag tank’, and all internal plumbing and systems up to and including the high pressure fuel pump. I was also responsible for supporting any problems with these at the track.

Following a successful industrial placement with Cosworth (1996-1997) I started as a graduate and worked on placements in various departments around the company for my first year. I settled into the F1 department, and very soon became responsible for cylinder head design. I designed a family of cylinder heads for the research engine before designing the cylinder head for the last V10 engine, finally laying out and designing the heads for the last ever Cosworth F1 engine. I left to continue work within F1 when Cosworth lost it's F1 contract in 2006.

Master Of Engineering (Meng), Mechanical Engineering, 1St Class

Education record