The UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory

The UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) offers an unrivalled breadth of technical products and services to our customers across the whole nuclear industry. Covering the complete nuclear fuel cycle from fuel manufacture and power generation, through to reprocessing, waste treatment and disposal and including defence, new nuclear build and Homeland Security, NNL provides these services supported by an impressive range of links with international research organisations, academia and other national laboratories.

In supporting the national interest, NNL offers commercial technologies for customers and trusted technical advice to Government. Our team of highly skilled employees specialise in providing tailored solutions with the right balance of innovation for successful project and programme delivery.

NNL currently has 800 highly qualified staff with over 50% having 1st degrees, and over 20% having PhD’s. We are passionate about what we do and employ very high standards of safety and quality; NNL is ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO27001 accredited. Safety excellence, commercial astuteness and technical intelligence are the key drives for our business.

NNL offers the following products and technical services across the whole range of industry sectors: Fuel Manufacture and Reactors Operating Reprocessing/Waste Plants Decommissioning and Treatment of Legacy Waste Environmental Management Disposal, including Geological Defence CBRN/Homeland Security New Nuclear Build/Future Nuclear Systems Research, Training & Academia

The products and technical services are offered at the following locations:

Workington
NNL has consolidated its in-active test rig development activities in this new facility.

Sellafield
Facilities include high active alpha, beta & gamma cells, plutonium and MOX facilities, active/non active labs, full scale test facilities and a supporting infrastructure. 

Windscale
Large flexible shielded facility capable of accepting a wide range of active materials, and equipped for all types of non-destructive and destructive examination.

Preston
Houses active laboratories capable of handling uranic materials from a laboratory to a production scale. It also contains engineering facilities for large scale testing. 

Offices at Risley, Stonehouse and Harwell
NNL operates offices at these locations, in support of UK and International customers, UK Reactor operators and regulators and for Materials Science and Chemistry consultancy.

Signature Research Programmes

A series of 4 signature research areas have been identified as being central to the National Nuclear Laboratory mission. These areas encompass activities which are of strategic significance to the UK and worldwide nuclear industry. NNL currently carries out work for customers within these areas. The objective in each area is for the NNL to play an expanded and/or a more strategic role in carrying out research. The research areas are:

• Spent Fuel and Nuclear Materials

• Focuses on supporting ongoing operations, disposition of spent fuel, civil plutonium and civil uranium.

• Waste Processing, Storage and Disposal

• All aspects of waste immobilisation and processing aimed at producing wasteforms suitable for interim storage and disposal.

• Reactors

• This area is defined to include all of the research carried out in support of reactors from the design of the fuel or reactor through to the irradiated fuel.

• Legacy Waste and Decommissioning

• This area covers all NNL research associated with the management of the post operational legacy of nuclear operations through to their end point, covering the associated legacy of inventory, equipment, plant and site.

Keith Miller
Head of Marketing
National Nuclear Laboratory

For more information about the National Nuclear Laboratory in the UK you can contact Keith Miller at the following email address: keith.x.miller@nnl.co.uk or consult the NNL website at: www.nnl.co.uk