Sannah van Balen is a final-year PhD candidate at the Cambridge University Engineering Department. She holds degrees in physics, nuclear engineering, and science, technology and society (STS). Her doctoral research investigates how international radiological protection recommendations are interpreted within national legislative and regulatory frameworks, and how they are applied in nuclear engineering contexts. More specifically, she examines how misinterpretation, mistransposition, and misapplication may be contributing to disproportionate radiological and nuclear risk management in reactor licensing and waste and decommissioning. Her work draws on health physics, nuclear engineering, language studies, and nuclear law and regulation to explore the regulatory, technical, and societal dimensions of this issue. She also lectures on radiological protection for students in the MPhil in Nuclear Energy and co-supervises master's theses within her area of expertise. She is active in the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) as a mentee of Task Group 124 on the Application of the Principle of Justification. Prior to her PhD, she worked in the Netherlands as an energy transition consultant, advising policymakers and industry on decarbonisation technologies and strategies.