HEATHCOTE, Dr John Anthony
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NAME:
HEATHCOTE, Dr John Anthony
Education and
Qualifications:
1976
1980
1981
1983
1993
Date of birth
Career Summary:
BA (Hons) Geology, University of Cambridge
MA, University of Cambridge
PhD Geological Sciences, University of Birmingham
(Barber Prize Winner)
Fellow of the Geological Society of London
Chartered Geologist
26 May 1955
2015-present
2006-2015
2000-2006
1994-2000
1990-1993
1986-1990
1982-1986
1981-1982
SECURITY STATUS
Director, John Heathcote Consulting Ltd
Principal Specialist, UKAEA Dounreay / Dounreay Site
Restoration Ltd
Associate Director, Entec
Technical Director, Entec
Director of Technical Development, Hydrotechnica
Technical Manager, Hydrotechnica
Senior Hydrogeologist, Hydrotechnica
Research Fellow, University of Birmingham
Cleared to SC by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd
RESPONSBILITIES WITH DOUNREAY SITE RESTORATION LTD
Technical lead in contaminated land management at the Dounreay experimental nuclear facility to
2015.
Expert reviewer of environmental documentation on Dounreay’s environmental review committees
from 2006 – May 2015.
Chairman of the Soil and Groundwater Technology Association (a national body representing
contaminated land liability holders to Government) 2012-2013.
Project manager for Nuclear Decommissioning Authority R&D projects on soil sorting technology,
dual beta-gamma probes, and statistical techniques in land characterisation.
Member of the Nuclear Industry Group on Land Quality, and the Contaminated Land group of the
Nuclear Waste and Decommissioning Research Forum.
KEY ABILITIES
Expert knowledge of Scottish legislation relevant to groundwater pollution, contaminated land,
radioactive waste and environmental management on a nuclear-licensed site.
Expert knowledge of: the characterisation of radioactively contaminated ground, radiochemistry and
statistics, radiological performance assessment for humans, hydrogeology and hydrochemistry.
Good technical problem-solving skills derived from an ability to integrate knowledge from across a
wide range of physical sciences relevant to the nuclear industry and ground contamination.
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SELECTED KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
2014 – 2015 – part time secondment into the Joint Agencies Groundwater Directive Advisory Group,
to advise the environment agencies of the UK and Republic of Ireland on implementation of the
Groundwater Daughter Directive 2006/118/EC in the UK.
2012-2015 – Leading determination of Dounreay site release criteria for agreement with regulators.
Setting standards in making the case for progressive site closure. Mentoring the development of
contaminated land characterisation plans for the site.
2006-12 – Production of a comprehensive description of the geology, hydrology, hydrogeology,
geochemistry and contamination status of the Dounreay nuclear licensed site.
2011 – Successfully making a case to SEPA that Dounreay site’s Landfill 42 was not radioactively
contaminated land and leading the design and execution of its closure engineering (runner-up winner
of Director’s safety prize).
2007 – Identifying the source of the ‘Castlegate seep’ discharge of radioactive water onto the beach
from the Dounreay site and specifying the works that led to the cessation of this discharge (runner-up
winner of Director’s safety prize).
2005 – Main architect of the first lifetime plan for the remediation and restoration of contaminated
land at Dounreay to a de-licensable condition, identifying schedule and cost. Acting manager of the
Environmental Projects department at this time, responsible for an annual budget of £5m.
2001-2002 – Project design and multi-million pound financial case preparation on behalf of the
Environment Agency for major water resources investigations in East Anglia, including review of
abstraction consents under the Habitats Directive for >50 sites.
2002 – Preliminary land quality audit of all the whole MoD estate in Gibraltar.
1998-2000 – Technical review of data and interpretation in connection with regional groundwater
pollution from a former coal-tar based pesticide factory. I identified the previously un-suspected
contamination pathway and contributed to the design of successful remedial works.
1998 – Involved in the re-assessment of the water resources of the Triassic sandstone aquifer system
covering 300 km2 and supplying the West Midlands, contracted to the Environment Agency. I
specified and managed the development of new numerical techniques for calculating recharge and
surface runoff at regional scale, and acted as internal technical reviewer for the project.
1994-1997 – Direction of Entec’s input to the Sellafield radioactive waste repository investigations,
including membership of Nirex’s high level Site Characterisation Review and Advisory Group and
Quaternary Task Team. Entec’s input concerned primarily the 1000 m+ thick sedimentary sequence
overlying the proposed repository host formation. Work directed included the synthesis of all work to
date on the Sherwood Sandstone of the Sellafield area, a first synthesis of the significance of the
Quaternary deposits and detailed Quaternary evolution of the area, regional scale numerical modelling
of fresh and saline groundwater, and the operation of a regional hydrometeorological network. Also
reviewed various elements of the repository performance assessment calculation
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1990-2000 – Assessment of the effects on groundwater of the construction of the Cardiff Bay Barrage
and design of remedial works. Project lead interfacing with CBDC Engineering Director, included
supporting Cardiff Bay Development Corporation at Parliamentary select committee hearings during
the passage of the enabling legislation.
1990 – 1993 – Development of computerised office administration, implementation from scratch of a
quality assurance system to BS5750 Part 1 and BS5882 leading to the company’s registration by BSi.
I have given expert evidence in the High Court and at Public Inquiry, and have briefed Counsel for
HM Government for Parliamentary select committee hearings.
TEACHING/TRAINING EXPERIENCE
I have acted as external examiner for hydrogeology and land contamination PhDs at University of
Birmingham (2), University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University College, London, University of
Sheffield.
2015 – Contributed 6 hours of teaching + examination question to the University of Birmingham’s
MSc course ‘Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management’, covering radiological risk
assessment and site characterisation.
2012 – Delivered one week course in Lisbon for IAEA on managing uncertainty in nuclear waste
repository performance assessments.
2010-2013 – Industrial supervisor of a University of Sussex DPhil student investigating optimised
characterisation of radioactively contaminated land, using Dounreay as an example (degree awarded).
1999 – Provided a one day awareness seminar on the Environment Agency’s Policy and Practice for
the Protection of Groundwater to ~1000 staff from a wide range of professional backgrounds,
delivered viva voce to four of the Agency’s eight regions (presentation materials provided to the other
four).
1997-2000 – Member of editorial board of Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology.
1997-1998 – Participation in an initial assessment of major contamination of groundwater by
hydrocarbons in liaison with Qinghua University, Beijing, China, as part of a DfID funded technology
transfer agreement.
1996-1999 – External examiner to University of East Anglia’s MSc course in hydrogeology.
1992-2002 - Contributed a short (six hours) lecture course on groundwater pollution to the MSc course
in Integrated Pollution Management at UMIST.
1990 – One month training of Bahrain Water Resources Directorate staff in the maintenance of
borehole logging equipment, and in the theory of geophysical log interpretation.
OVERSEAS WORK EXPERIENCE
Sultanate of Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Chile, People’s Republic of China
Languages: English (native), French (basic reading), Spanish (basic reading).
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List of Publications:
Authored Books
Lloyd J W and Heathcote J A, 1985. Natural inorganic chemistry in relation to groundwater.
Oxford University Press.
Petts G E, Heathcote J A and Martin D, 2002. Urban rivers - our inheritance and future. IWA,
London.
Refereed Journal Papers
Heathcote J A and Lloyd J W, 1984. Groundwater chemistry in south-east Suffolk (UK) and its
relation to Quaternary geology. Journal of Hydrology 75 143-165.
Heathcote J A, 1985. Carbonate chemistry of recent Chalk groundwater in a part of East Anglia, UK.
Journal of Hydrology 78 215-227.
Heathcote J A and Lloyd J W, 1986. Factors affecting the isotopic composition of daily rainfall at
Driby, Lincolnshire. Journal of Climatology 6 97-106.
Heathcote J A, Jones M A and Herbert A W, 1996. The geology and hydrogeology of the Sellafield
area: Modelling groundwater flow in the Sellafield area. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology
29 S59-S81.
Heathcote J A, Lewis R T, Russell D I and Soley R W N S, 1997. Cardiff Bay Barrage: groundwater
control in a thin tidal aquifer. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology 30 (63-77).
A A McMillan, J A Heathcote, B A Klinck, M G Shepley, C P Jackson and P J Degnan, 2000.
Hydrogeological characterisation of the onshore Quaternary sediments at Sellafield using the concept
of domains. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 33 301-323.
Heathcote J A, R T Lewis and J S Sutton, 2003. Groundwater modelling for the Cardiff Bay Barrage,
UK - prediction, implementation of engineering works and validation of modelling. Quarterly
Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 36 159-172.
Heathcote J A and U McL Michie, 2004. Estimating hydrogeological conditions over the last
120 000 years - an example from the Sellafield area, UK. Journal of the Geological Society 161 9951005.
M J Streetly, J A Heathcote and P J Degnan, 2006. Seasonal fluctuations in groundwater pressures in
deep boreholes near Sellafield. Geological Society Special Publication 263 155-167.
Joyce M J, Adams J C, Heathcote J A and Mellor M, 2012. Finding the depth of radioactivity in
construction materials. Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers paper 1200003 7pp. Awarded 2014 James Watt
medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Rostron P D, Heathcote J A and Ramsey M H, 2014. Optimising in situ gamma measurements to
identify the presence of radioactive particles in land areas. J. Env. Radioactivity 138 162-169.
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Rostron P D, Heathcote J A and Ramsey M H, 2014. Comparison between in situ and ex situ gamma
measurements on land area within a decommissioning nuclear site: a case study at Dounreay. J.
Radiol. Protect. 34 495-508.
Rostron P D, Heathcote J A and Ramsey M H, 2015. Evaluation of uncertainties in in situ and ex situ
gamma measurements on land areas with low contamination levels. J. Radiol. Protect. 35 391-399.
Contributions to Edited Works
Heathcote J A, 1994. The use of geophysical logging in understanding salinity distribution in alluvial
aquifers: a case history from Oman. In Groundwater Quality, ed Nash H and McCall G J H,
Chapman and Hall.
Conference Proceedings (Refereed)
Heathcote J A, Lewis R T and Sze W K, 1992. Mathematical modelling of the impact of the Cardiff
Bay Barrage. In Fluid Flow Modelling: Hydrosoft ’92, Valencia, Spain. ed Blain W R and Cabrera E.
Elsevier.
Crompton D M and Heathcote J A, 1993. Cardiff Bay Barrage and groundwater rise. In
International conference on groundwater problems in urban areas. Institution of Civil Engineers,
London.
Heathcote J A and King S, 1998. Umm as Samim, a large sabkhah with evidence for climate change.
In International conference on Quaternary deserts and climate change. IGCP-349, Al Ain. Balkema.
Heathcote J A and Crompton D M, 1996. Risk of groundwater impact caused by the Cardiff Bay
Barrage. In Barrages: Engineering design and environmental impacts, ed Burt N and Watts J.
J Wiley and Sons.
Heathcote J A, 1997. Scoping studies on the effect of Quaternary climate change on the
hydrogeology in the Sellafield Potential Repository Zone. In Glaciation and Hydrogeology, eds KingClayton L, Chapman N, Ericsson L O and Kautsky F. SKI Report 97:13, Stockholm.
Heathcote J A and Crompton D M, 1997. Managing the impact of urban groundwater rise. In
Groundwater in the urban environment, ed Chilton J. Proceedings of the XXVII IAH Congress,
Nottingham 21-27 September 1997. Balkema, Rotterdam.
Soley R W N S and Heathcote J A, 1998. Recharge through the drift: a study of contrasting
catchments near Redgrave Fen, UK. In Groundwater pollution, Aquifer Recharge and Vulnerability.
Geological Society Spec. Publ. 130, 129-141.
Heathcote J A, Rintoul A H, Waite P J, 2000. Approaches to comparative risk assessments of
national and international radioactive waste disposal options. Materials Research Society, Sydney.
Heathcote J A, Liddiard M and Pearl M, 2005. Planning the accelerated restoration of contaminated
land at the Dounreay experimental nuclear establishment, UK. In WM ’05, Tucson. Paper 5159.
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Heathcote J A, 2014. Characterisation of radioactively contaminated land at Dounreay, and area with
a high natural background. Royal Society of Chemistry, Bath (in press).
Conference Proceedings (Not Refereed)
Heathcote J A, 1993. Mayton Wood Landfill - groundwater pollution from an attenuate and disperse
site. In Groundwater Pollution, IBC.
Heathcote J A, Kotoub S and alFeihani M, 1997. Artificial recharge for effective management of
water re-use. 1st Annual conference and exhibition in water technology, Doha, Qatar.
Technical Reports in the Public Domain (refereed)
Heathcote J A, Lewis R T and Papaioannou A, 1991. Cardiff Bay Barrage groundwater modelling
final report (3 volumes). Hydrotechnica 12057/R1.
Footitt R, Heathcote J A, and others, 1991. Borehole 1 and associated works, Sellafield area. Nirex
Report 106.
Heathcote J A, Haines T S, and others, 1991. Regional hydrogeology and geochemistry in the
Sellafield area: Phase 1, evaluation of existing data. Nirex Report 233.
Heathcote J A, Haines T S, and others, 1991. Regional hydrogeology and geochemistry in the
Dounreay area: Phase 1, evaluation of existing data. Nirex Report 234.
Bath A H, Black J H, Heathcote J A, Holmes D C, Jeffery R, McCartney R, Savage D and Sutton J S,
1992. Sellafield Hydrogeology. Nirex Report 268.
Lewis R T, Heathcote J A and Green H R, 1995. Vertical section variable density groundwater flow
models of the Sellafield area. Nirex Report SA/97/056.
Heathcote J A, Green H R, McMillan A A and Klinck B, 1996. Synthesis of the hydrogeological
characteristics of Quaternary sequences in the Sellafield area. Nirex Report SA/97/001.
Soley R W N S and Heathcote J A, 1997. A synthesis of data used to assess the hydraulic character
of the Sherwood Sandstone Group at Sellafield. Nirex Report SA/97/064.
Heathcote J A, Gomme J W, McMillan A A, Milodowski A E and Pine R J, 1999. Quaternary
conditions in the Sellafield area relevant to hydrogeological modelling. Nirex Report SA/97/047.
Heathcote J A. 2000. Scoping study for developing the Environment Agency and SNIFFER’s future
research agenda for diffuse pollution of the water environment. Environment Agency R&D Report
P424.
McMahon A, Carey M A, Heathcote J A and Erskine A D. 2001. Guidance on the assessment and
interrogation of subsurface analytical contaminant fate and transport models. Environment Agency
National Groundwater and Contaminated Land Centre Report NC/99/38/1.
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McMahon A, Heathcote J A, Carey M A and Erskine A D. 2001. Guide to good practice for the
development of conceptual models and the selection and application of mathematical models of
contaminant transport processes in the subsurface. Environment Agency National Groundwater and
Contaminated Land Centre Report NC/99/38/2.
McMahon A, Heathcote J A, Carey M A, Erskine A D and Barker J A. 2001. Guidance on assigning
values to uncertain parameters in subsurface contaminant fate and transport modelling. Environment
Agency National Groundwater and Contaminated Land Centre Report NC/99/38/3.
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