INTERNATIONAL BEST RESEARCHER AWARD
Dr Mosebetsi Leotlela and his late twin brother Mokete were born in 1959 in the Standerton district of South Africa. Both their parents were farm labourers. Dr Mosebetsi Leotlela attended Jikakhulu Primary School (a farm school near Standerton), Goakganya Combined School (Pretoria) and Tswaing High School (Pretoria), completing his school career in 1981. He subsequently enrolled for a Certificate in Paint Technology at the Technical College of South Africa (TECHNISA). In 1989, he began his tertiary education by enrolling at the Pretoria Technikon for a National Diploma in Nuclear Technology. For his in-service training, which was a Technikon requirement before one could graduate, he worked at Schonland Nuclear Research Centre (SNRC), which formed part of the University of Witwatersrand together with the Proton Induced Xray Emission (PIXE) group. He went on to do the second part of his in-service training at the Council for Nuclear Safety (CNS) and graduated in 1997. While he was enrolled for the in-service training, he concurrently enrolled for a National N Diploma in Engineering Studies at Pretoria West College of Engineering, majoring in chemical technology (N6), computer principles (N6) and engineering physics (N6), which he completed in 2000. Thereafter, he enrolled for a second National N Diploma at Centurion College of Engineering, with Missiles (N6) and Radar Systems (N6) as majors, which he completed in 2002. After completing his diploma studies, he simultaneously enrolled for a Bachelor of Technology (BTech): Technology Management at Pretoria Technikon and a Bachelor of Engineering (Ing) at Hanzehogeschool based in South Africa and the Netherlands, respectively. These degrees were both completed in 2003. In 2005, he joined Eskom as Nuclear Licensing Engineer and at the same time enrolled for a Nuclear Engineers Programme (NEP) which formed part of a Postgraduate Diploma at the University of the Witwatersrand. After completing all the prerequisite courses for the MSc, he changed his registration to MSc where his research project focused on the migration of gaseous fission products through the TRISO-coated fuel particle of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) which he completed in 2010. In parallel with all this, he married and has three sons. In 2011, he enrolled for a PhD in Physics at the same university, i.e. University of the Witwatersrand, his research focus being Nuclear Criticality Safety Analysis. The degree was conferred in July 2016. CURRENT EMPLOYMENT ACTIVITY ï‚· Senior Nuclear Licensing Physicist: Koeberg Nuclear Licensing Department (KNLD) Eskom. ï‚· Honorary Lecturer: School of Physics, University of The Witwatersrand (1 January 2021 to 31 January 2023) PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS ï‚· Editor: International Nuclear Safety Journal: http://nuclearsafety.info/international-nuclearsafety- journal/index.php/INSJ/about/editorialTeam. ï‚· Section editor: International Nuclear Safety Journal 2 AWARDS EARNED. ï‚· Eskom Quality Achiever Award (2008-10-14): Presented in recognition of reviewing PBMR Environmental Impact Report (EIR). ï‚· Golden Key International Honour Society Membership: In March 2017, he was identified by the Golden Key International Honour Society, University of Witwatersrand chapter, as a Prospective Member of the Golden Key International Society for outstanding academic achievement at the University on his PhD studies. To that effect he was inducted and awarded the membership during the New Member Recognition Ceremony held on 16 May 2017. MEMBERSHIP OF ACADEMIC AND NON-ACADEMIC PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS ï‚· Engineering Council of South Africa: Professional Engineering Technologist (Pr.Tech.Eng) (201070081). ï‚· Institute of Professional Engineering Technologists: (MIPET) (3156M) ï‚· The South African Council of Natural Scientific Profession: (Pr.Sci.Nat) (400085/11) ï‚· South African Institute of Physics (MSAIP) (201029) ï‚· South African Institute of Physics (Pr.Phys) (201029) ï‚· Southern African Radiation Protection Association: Founder corporate member ï‚· Golden Key International Society: ID number 15291686 PUBLICATIONS: 1. Time-dependent variations in the radiological health impact of an interim spent fuel storage facility (Journal of Physics and Chemistry| Accepted 4 June 2021). 2. Establishing an effective nuclear regulatory regime: A case study of South Africa. Published on 4 March 2021 in the Journal of Science, Technology and Public Policy. http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=518&doi=10.11648/j.st pp.20210501.11 3. Prediction of dose rates around the interim spent fuel storage facility (Journal of Physics and Chemistry| Accepted 31 August 2020). 4. Sensitivity of the neutron multiplication factor to water ingress into a spent fuel cask (Published in Kerntechnik Journal in Germany, 2020;85(1). 5. Quantifying the radiological health impact of the ISFSF (going through the Kerntechnik Journal review process). 6. Methodology for licensing burnup credit in nuclear criticality safety analysis: A calculational basis. Published in Semantic Scholar 23 April 2019 .(https://www.semanticscholar.org/search?q=MJLeotlela&sort=relevance 7. Preserving spent fuel storage capacity by taking credit for burnup in nuclear criticality safety analysis: An alternative solution to spent fuel storage shortage (Editorial) Journal of Modern and Applied Physics, 2018;2(1):10-12. 8. Time-dependent variation of the neutron multiplication factor in spent fuel storage: Published in Kerntechnik Journal in Germany, 2017;82(6). 9. Evolution of South African nuclear regulatory regime from the British nuclear regulatory system (editorial): Journal of Modern and Applied Physics, 2017;1(1):01 3 10. Preferential water ingress into dry spent fuel casks: J Nucl Ene Sci Power Generat Technol, 2016;5:4 11. The effects of storage patterns on the neutron multiplication factor of spent nuclear fuel casks. International Journal of Nuclear Safety, 2012;1(1). 12. Effects of the localisation of misloaded fuel assembly on the neutron multiplication factor of castor/28F spent fuel casks. Published in the International Nuclear Safety Journal, 2015;4(1). 13. Ranking of aluminium composite materials for use as neutron absorber inserts in spent fuel pools: Published in the International Journal of Nuclear Safety, 2015;4(3). 14. Sensitivity analysis of parameters important to nuclear criticality safety of caster X/28F spent nuclear fuel: Published in Germany in Kerntechnik Journal, 2015;80(5). 15. Criticality effect of storage of patterns of spent fuel casks, Paper presented at the SA Institute of Physics Conference, 2012. 16. The effects of silicon carbide crystal structure transformation on gaseous fission product release from the TRISO coated particle of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactors fuel pebble. Paper presented at the South African Institute of Physics Conference, 2010.