NNL

National Nuclear Laboratory Limited (NNL) is the UK’s leading nuclear technology services provider and is able to offer customers an unrivalled breadth of technical expertise, services and facilities covering all areas of the nuclear industry.

NNL is a unique resource constituting the bulk of the UK’s national nuclear research capability and all of the civil nuclear research facilities. The company comprises approximately 800 staff at six locations around the country.

Our services encompass the complete nuclear fuel cycle from fuel manufacture and power generation, through to reprocessing, waste treatment and disposal. NNL’s extensive portfolio of services includes Defence, Nuclear New Build and Homeland Security. NNL is able to provide its services both independently and with support through links with an impressive range of international research organisations, academia and other national laboratories.

Specifically NNL provides tailored solutions in a number of key areas such as:

• Nuclear Science
• Waste and Residue Management
• Plant Process Support
• Modelling and Simulation
• Materials and Corrosion
• Environmental Management
• Homeland Security and Non-Proliferation
• Specialist Analytical Services
• Knowledge, Data and Laboratory Management

NNL’s state of the art facilities have been specifically designed for flexibility in experimental planning and equipment setup, therefore allowing bespoke experimental programmes to be carried out. NNL was involved in carrying out experimental work on SACSESS which was the predecessor to GENIORS and has demonstrated through this work and many other projects that NNL has the skills and facilities to meet the needs of the GENIORS experimental programme. This includes working with plutonium and uranium at Central Laboratory, uranium at Preston Laboratory and spent fuels at Windscale Laboratory.

The Plutonium and Minor Actinide (PuMA) Laboratory and associated facilities located in Central Laboratory has unique capabilities to support all aspects of reprocessing using representative amounts of plutonium and americium. The specialist glovebox based equipment includes dissolvers, centrifugal contactors (for testing solvent extraction flowsheets), finishing equipment and high temperature furnaces (for converting product solutions to powders that can contain U, Np, Pu and Am.) The gloveboxes are equipped with UV/vis and Raman spectroscopy capability and are supported by a suit of radiometric (alpha and gamma spectroscopy) and ICP-MS analysis instruments. In addition a number of laboratories within Central Laboratory encompassing a higher mass plutonium capability, has become available in this year (2016). The equipment available includes gas chromatography, Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray Diffraction, Optical Microscopy and Thermogravimetric Analysis.

NNL believes that nothing is more important than the health and safety of NNL’s people, customers, contractors, public and all other stakeholders: excellence in health and safety management is integral to NNL’s business and commercial success. Accountabilities for health and safety management are maintained and improved through control of activities for which NNL is responsible; competence and training of individuals, contractors and visitors; communication within the organisation and with stakeholders; and adequate co-operation between individuals, teams and contractors.

In addition to meeting its requirements under UK Health, Safety and Environmental legislation, appropriate account is taken of the requirements arising from the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and Environmental permitting Regulations by virtue of NNL’s position as a tenant on nuclear licensed sites.

NNL is very proud of its outstanding safety performance. Since 2004 NNL has been awarded the RoSPA R&D Sector Award eight times, “Highly Commended” three times, and in 2015 NNL has won the President’s Award, please see the final page of this submission for the logos associated with these awards NNL has permission to display. In order to be awarded these RoSPA awards NNL has demonstrated that it has maintained consistently excellent or continuously improving health and safety performance and approaches to health and safety management.

https://www.nnl.co.uk/

Contact persons

Robin Taylor

Chris Rhodes

Mike Carrott

David Graham