Marcelo Salvatore
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mr. Marcelo Salvatore, owner and CEO of Ignisatom SAS, has 31 years of continuous professional experience in the nuclear field working in multiple roles covering the areas of power generation, technology development, technology transfer programs, fuel cycle related activities, contractual negotiations and, regulatory matters. He has supported NAC’s fuel cycle consulting activities since early 2020. His areas of expertise include the implementation of large NPP projects, SMRs and advanced reactors, interim dry storage for spent fuel, other spent fuel storage solutions and disposal, regulatory approaches and licensing of nuclear installations, safeguards, accounting and control of nuclear materials, related nuclear security matters, production of nuclear fuels, technology transfer in nuclear fuel manufacturing, strategic analysis, strategic advice for the fuel cycle consulting and, business development activities for the nuclear fuel cycle.
Prior to founding Ignisatom, Mr. Salvatore was an Executive Member of the Board of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina (NA.SA), a nuclear utility and owner/operator of three nuclear power plants, and Director for Nuclear Technology Evaluation in the former Undersecretariat for Nuclear Energy of Argentina.
During this time, he participated in multiple initiatives covering strategic programs, project prioritization and financing plant operations, plant life extensions, new build for large plants, licensing of nuclear installations, the Central Argentina de Elementos Modulares (CAREM) project (a small modular reactor for electrical power generation), and other nuclear infrastructure endeavors under consideration in Argentina.
Mr. Salvatore’s past work experience includes serving as a senior technical consultant to Rosatom Overseas. Previously and for several years, he was one of the most senior nuclear advisors in Saudi Arabia, working for King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), helping establish its nuclear program on both, the project, and the regulatory side. His work history also includes nineteen years at the Argentinean company INVAP, where he was a key member of the core project management team that designed, constructed, commissioned, and turned over the OPAL Research Reactor in Australia (a first of a kind high-performance multipurpose research reactor). While there he was also involved in many other initiatives related to SMRs, research reactors, radioisotope production, isotope separation and enrichment, fuel manufacturing and technology transfer in or for Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, the IAEA, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Canada, and the US. Mr. Salvatore started his career with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), initially in roles in nuclear reactor core physics, code programming and validation, engineering, and services for NPPs, transitioning to nuclear project management and technology transfer programs from AECL to the Argentina’s National Atomic Energy Commission (Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica - CNEA).
Mr. Salvatore belongs to the 10th class (1990) of Professional Nuclear Engineers from the prestigious Instituto Balseiro (Balseiro Institute), a pioneering and world class nuclear institution in Argentina run by the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA).
Areas of Expertise
- Compatibility and mixed core evaluations
- Contract development
- Contract portfolio analysis
- Core components design, materials, and performance
- Core design
- Criticality analyses
- Cycle economics and fuel costs
- Deep Isolation
- Fuel cycle design
- Fuel department staffing and organization assessments
- Fuel Design & Manufacture
- Fuel design change reviews
- Fuel fabrication procurement
- Fuel handling, core loading, and operational support
- Fuel Management
- Fuel manufacturing technical oversight
- Fuel Markets
- Fuel materials and irradiation effects
- Fuel performance and reliability
- Fuel rod analyses
- Government Policy evaluation and impacts
- Licensing Analysis
- Materials Control & Accountability
- MC&A software functional specifications
- MC&A Training
- New fuel design reviews / LTA's / Accident Tolerant Fuel
- Nuclear Nonproliferation, Safeguards & Security support
- Obligations reporting
- Operation & Performance
- Purchasing/marketing strategies
- RCS chemistry program assessments
- RCS coolant activity analysis (failed fuel assessments)
- Repository and recycling economics
- RFP and bid evaluations
- Safety analyses
- Security of supply studies
- SFP criticality analysis
- Spent fuel examinations
- Spent Fuel Storage Consulting
- Spent fuel storage options and economics
- Technical Support
- Thermal-hydraulics analyses
