2009 Report to Government on National Research and

5. INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIRED FOR R&D
5.1 In this context, infrastructure means labora<strong>to</strong>ries and other research facilities and
the equipment within them.
5.2 R&D <strong>to</strong> support the MRWS programme may be viewed as falling in<strong>to</strong> two groups:
that which is specific <strong>to</strong> the nuclear industry (for example development of
plu<strong>to</strong>nium wasteforms), and other broadly applicable R&D which is relevant <strong>to</strong> the
management of higher activity wastes as well as other industries (for example,
remote subsurface investigation in support of structural geological
characterisation and mapping). The former usually requires work with radioactive
materials and has very specific and complex infrastructure requirements. By
contrast, the latter relies mainly on the UK’s broader national R&D capability.
CoRWM hopes <strong>to</strong> examine the broader group in more detail in future. This report
focuses on infrastructure <strong>to</strong> support nuclear specific R&D.
5.3 This section begins with consideration of “active facilities”, that is research
facilities where work with radioactive materials can be carried out, in the UK and
other countries. There is then a discussion of underground facilities for geological
disposal R&D.
UK Active Facilities
Universities
5.4 Within UK universities there is very little capacity <strong>to</strong> work with radioactive
materials relevant <strong>to</strong> the nuclear fuel cycle. Several groups (e.g. Sussex,
Edinburgh, Oxford, Imperial College) work on fundamental aspects of the
chemistry and materials science of uranium and thorium but have no
infrastructure <strong>to</strong> support experiments with transuranium elements. The majority of
this research is based around one or two academic staff in each institution.
Loughborough University has dedicated radiochemistry labora<strong>to</strong>ries, but limited
capacity <strong>to</strong> work with high hazard radioiso<strong>to</strong>pes.
5.5 Starting in 1999, BNFL created a series of university partnerships (University
Research Alliances, para 4.26 and Box 4). The MPC and ISL have the capacity
<strong>to</strong> work with uranium-active materials (and irradiated graphite in the case of
MPC), while the CRR has some capacity for work with neptunium and plu<strong>to</strong>nium,
including the UK’s remaining supply of plu<strong>to</strong>nium-242, whose long half-life allows
work with milligram quantities in a limited range of conditions. All four URAs have
access <strong>to</strong> a wide range of instruments although their use, even with uranium, can
be quite restricted.
5.6 BNFL’s start-up funding was provided <strong>to</strong> each URA for 5 years, with the
expectation that they would become self-sufficient after that time. This is the case
for all four URAs, which have diversified and now have major programmes in
areas such as propulsion, new build, national security and non-nuclear <strong>to</strong>pics.
National Nuclear Labora<strong>to</strong>ry Facilities
5.7 NNL runs facilities at Springfields (relatively new uranium-active labora<strong>to</strong>ries) and
Sellafield, specifically the B13 and recently built BTC (BNFL Technology Centre)
CoRWM Document 2543, Oc<strong>to</strong>ber <strong>2009</strong> Page 79 of 151