Friday 19 August 2022

Investing in scientific research and unleashing innovation is fundamental to our work as a national laboratory. We are committed to helping cultivate the right conditions for successful new development and promoting collaboration across academia, research bodies, government and industry, both nationally and internationally.

Our aim is to operate our infrastructure as a user centre so it can be accessed by academia, other national labs and the entirety of the supply chain. To support NNL’s and the NDA’s shared aim to help foster the next generation of nuclear experts, NNL will soon be welcoming proposals from UK university academics for access to “a range of equipment and capabilities, primarily in our active facilities” – although access to non-active equipment and facilities will be considered if it is an essential pre-cursor to future active work.

We are seeking research and development proposals associated with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s mission ‘to clean up the UK’s earliest nuclear sites safely, securely and cost-effectively with care for people and the environment’.

The call for proposals will open in early September 2022 and will be open for a four-week period and will be assessed against defined scoring criteria. The maximum time available for activities is 3 months, and successful projects must be completed by the end of March 2023.

The NNL facilities and equipment available are detailed on pages 45 – 69 of the NIRO UK Nuclear Fission R&D Catalogue and the Royce and NNUF websites.  The call also includes access to radioactive samples held by NNL if required. This call is sponsored by the NDA, with additional funding provided by NNL, NNUF and Royce. Funding streams for access will differ for NDA bursary and non-NDA Bursary students, but there will be no charge for the use of the facilities.  

If you have any initial questions about the call, please direct them to access.liaison@uknnl.com. Full details of both the call (including funding arrangements) and a briefing webinar will be released in September 2022.

For more information visit:

Working with Us | National Nuclear Laboratory (nnl.co.uk)

About us – Nuclear Decommissioning Authority – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)