National Nuclear Laboratory

UK government owned and operated nuclear services technology provider

United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory

Company type| State-owned limited company
Industry| Nuclear services and technology
Predecessor| Nexia Solutions
Founded| 23 July 2008
Headquarters|

Chadwick House, Birchwood Park, Warrington, United Kingdom

Number of locations

* Central Laboratory
* Windscale Laboratory
* Workington Laboratory
* Preston Laboratory
* Labordy Niwclear Cenedlaethol, Anglesey
* Chadwick House, Warrington
* Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
* Stonehouse

Key people

| Prof. Paul Howarth (chief executive officer)
Owner| Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Number of employees

| approx 800
Parent| NNL Holdings Limited
Divisions|

* Waste Management and Decommissioning
* Fuel Cycle Solutions
* Reactor Operations Support

Website| uknnl.com

The United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL, formerly National Nuclear Laboratory and earlier Nexia Solutions) is a UK government owned and operated nuclear services technology provider covering the whole of the nuclear fuel cycle. It is fully customer-funded and operates at six locations in the United Kingdom. Its customers have included the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Sellafield Ltd, Westinghouse, the Health and Safety Executive, the Ministry of Defence, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, VT Nuclear and British Energy. It also has links with academia, including collaborative agreements on waste immobilisation and disposal with the University of Sheffield and on nuclear materials research with the University of Manchester.[1]

## History

[edit]

The organisation began to come together in 1996 when a number of separate research and development facilities began to coalesce into a single unit within British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). In 2003, this research and technology business was re-launched as Nuclear Sciences and Technology Services (NSTS) to ready the business for transformation into a fully commercial entity. In 2005, following the restructuring of the wider nuclear industry, Nexia Solutions was formed out of NSTS, as a wholly owned subsidiary of BNFL.

In July 2006, the UK Government stated its intention to preserve and develop key research and development capabilities potentially as part of a National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL). In October 2006, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alistair Darling, announced the establishment of the NNL, to be based on Nexia Solutions and the British Technology Centre at the Sellafield facility.[2] NNL was formally announced by John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in an announcement at the Sellafield Visitors Centre on 23 July 2008.[3]

On 23 March 2009 it was announced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that a consortium made up of Serco, Battelle and the University of Manchester had been selected as the new management contractors for the NNL.[4] The contract was for an initial three-year period with options to be extended by up to two years.[5] DECC had been engaged in competitive dialogue with the winning consortium as well as QQEST, a joint venture between QinetiQ and EnergySolutions, since October 2008.[6]

The management contract commenced on 1 April 2009, when ownership of the NNL transferred from BNFL directly to DECC with shareholder responsibilities delegated to the Shareholder Executive.[7] Mike Lawrence of Battelle was appointed to lead the new NNL management team as managing director. He had more than 40 years of experience in the nuclear profession, including management of the United States Hanford Reservation and its massive site clean-up program, and his former role as the US representative on nuclear matters to the International Atomic Energy Agency.[8] Mike Lawrence retired in December 2010 and was replaced by Professor Paul Howarth, formerly NNL's Director of Science, Technology and Project Delivery.[9] On 1 October 2013, the management contract expired, and the NNL became operated directly by the UK Government.[10]

In December 2024 the organisation was renamed United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory, and began using the royal coat of arms.[11]

## Other information

[edit]

* Nexia Solutions won Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents's (RoSPA) Sector Award five times between 2004 and 2008.
* The NNL won the IChemE HFL Excellence in Health and Safety Award in 2008.[12][13]
* The NNL is responsible for the development of the RadBall technology.

## See also

[edit]

* China National Nuclear Corporation

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Consortium selected for UK National Nuclear Laboratory", World Nuclear News (24/03/09).
2. ^ Alistair Darling announces the formation of the National Nuclear Laboratory Archived 13 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine, www.nda.gov.uk (30/06/06).
3. ^ "UK national laboratory confirmed", World Nuclear News (23 July 2008).
4. ^ "Consortium appointed to run UK's National Nuclear Lab to be run", www.publictechnology.net (23/03/09).
5. ^ "Serco, Battelle To Run UK National Nuclear Laboratory", www.advfn.com (23 March 2009).
6. ^ "Press Release – Serco, Battelle and the University of Manchester to run National Nuclear Lab", www.decc.gov.uk (23/03/09).
7. ^ "Serco – Battelle – University of Manchester consortium named as Recommended Bidder to run National Nuclear Laboratory", www.serco.com (23/03/09).
8. ^ "Battelle in consortium selected to lead England's National Nuclear Laboratory", www.battelle.org (23/03/09).
9. ^ Appointment of a New Managing Director for NNL
10. ^ "National Nuclear Laboratory Takes Next Step in its Evolution". NNL. 2013. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
11. ^ "Moving forward as the United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory". UKNNL. 18 December 2024. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
12. ^ "Global Awards - Past winners - IChemE". www.icheme.org. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
13. ^ "Huntsman wins top prize at IChemE awards". www.chemeurope.com. Retrieved 23 September 2021.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Nuclear power in the United Kingdom

* Energy in the United Kingdom
* Nuclear power

Companies|

| Current|

* Great British Nuclear
* EDF Energy
* Magnox Ltd
* Rolls-Royce
* Sellafield Ltd
* Sheffield Forgemasters
* Urenco

New build operators|

* NNB Generation Company
* Horizon Nuclear Power

Defunct|

* British Energy
* British Nuclear Group
* Magnox Electric
* Nuclear Electric
* Scottish Nuclear
* NuGeneration

Organisations|

* Civil Nuclear Constabulary
* Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
* Nuclear Industry Association
* Nuclear Institute
* Nuclear Liabilities Fund
* Office for Nuclear Regulation
* United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
* United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory

Reactors|

| AGR|

* Hartlepool
* Heysham 1
* Heysham 2
* Torness

|

AGR (closed)|

* Dungeness B
* Hinkley Point B
* Hunterston B

FBR (closed)|

* Dounreay

Magnox (closed)|

* Berkeley
* Bradwell
* Calder Hall
* Chapelcross
* Dungeness A
* Hinkley Point A
* Hunterston A
* Oldbury
* Sizewell A
* Trawsfynydd
* Wylfa

PWR|

| Active|

* Sizewell B

|

Planned|

* Bradwell B
* Hinkley Point C
* Moorside
* Sizewell C

Non-reactor sites|

* Capenhurst
* uranium enrichment
* Sellafield
* Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant
* Windscale fire
* Springfields (fuel manufacture)
* Winfrith (research and development)

Anti-nuclear|

* Energy Fair

Other|

* Franco-British Nuclear Forum
* Nuclear or Not?
* Nuclear Power and the Environment
* Nuclear power in Scotland
* Sustainable Development Commission

Category

* v
* t
* e

Energy in the United Kingdom

Companies

| Coal|

* Anglo American
* BHP
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* GCM Resources
* Glencore
* Rio Tinto
* UK Coal

|

Oil and
gas|

| Integrated|

* BP
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|

Exploration
and production|

* Afren
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* Centrica
* Dana Petroleum
* Desire Petroleum
* Emerald Energy
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* Melrose Resources
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Supply|

* Greenergy
* Murco Petroleum

Support|

* Abbot Group
* Amec Foster Wheeler
* Expro
* Hunting
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* Petrofac
* Qserv
* Weir Group
* WesternGeco1

Utilities|

| Integrated|

* Centrica
* E.ON UK1
* EDF Energy1
* Npower1
* ScottishPower1
* SSE

|

Generation
and supply|

| Generation|

* Drax Group
* Engie Energy International
* Horizon Nuclear Power1
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* Vedanta Resources

|

Supply|

* 100Green
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Distribution|

| Electricity|

* Electricity North West1
* Northern Powergrid1
* SP Energy Networks1
* SSE Power Distribution
* UK Power Networks1
* Western Power Distribution1

|

Gas|

* Cadent Gas
* Firmus Energy
* Northern Gas Networks
* Phoenix Natural Gas
* SGN
* Wales & West Utilities1

Transmission|

| Electricity|

* National Grid2
* Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission
* SP Energy Networks1

|

Gas|

* National Grid

Other|

* Aggreko
* APX Group
* Aquamarine Power
* EnServe
* Hi-Gen Power
* Mark Group
* United Downs Deep Geothermal Power
* Wavegen

Companies with headquarters and/or registered office in the UK but no applicable energy operations within the country shown in italics 1Ultimate parent company is not UK-based 2Integrated in the United States, no generation or supply activities in the UK

Energy sources

| Coal|

* Coal Authority
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* Confederation of UK Coal Producers
* Greenhouse gas emissions
* History
* miners' strike
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* Open-pit coal mining

|

Electricity|

* Association of Electricity Producers
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* Economy 7
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* Electricity billing
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* North Sea Link
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* Timeline of the electricity supply industry

Nuclear|

* Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor
* Franco-British Nuclear Forum
* Magnox
* Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
* Nuclear Liabilities Fund
* Nuclear power stations
* Office for Nuclear Regulation
* Sellafield
* United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
* United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory

Oil and gas|

* BBL Pipeline
* Dash for Gas
* Forties pipeline system
* Fuel protests
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* National Transmission System
* Natural gas fields
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Renewables|

| Biofuels|

* Biofuel power stations
* NNFCC
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|

Geothermal|

* Geothermal power stations

Hydroelectricity|

* Hydroelectric power stations
* Mersey Barrage
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* Wave farms

Solar power|

Wind power|

* Offshore wind power
* List of offshore wind farms
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* North Seas Energy Cooperation
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Government and regulation

| Organisations|

* Carbon Trust
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* Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
* Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
* Energy Saving Trust
* Environment Agency
* Office of Gas and Electricity Markets

|

Legislation and
initiatives|

* Carbon Emission Reduction Target
* Climate Change Act 2008
* Climate Change Agreement
* Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006
* Climate Change Levy
* CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
* Decarbonisation measures in proposed UK electricity market reform
* Display Energy Certificate
* Energy Act 2013
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* Fossil Fuel Levy
* Low Carbon Building Programme
* Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation
* Planning Act 2008
* Renewable Heat Incentive
* Renewables Obligation
* United Kingdom Climate Change Programme

Non-governmental organisations

| Charities and
pressure groups|

* Ashden Award
* Bioregional
* Campaign against Climate Change
* Centre for Alternative Technology
* National Energy Action
* Stop Climate Chaos
* Tyndall Centre

|

Industry bodies|

* Association for Decentralised Energy
* Energy Institute
* Energy Networks Association
* Energy Retail Association
* Green Power Forum
* RenewableUK
* Utilities Intermediaries Association

Research|

* Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology
* Energy Technologies Institute
* Met Office Hadley Centre
* Narec
* Oil Depletion Analysis Centre
* Sunbury Research Centre
* UK Energy Research Centre

Energy conservation

* British Energy Efficiency Federation
* Close the Door campaign
* Code for Sustainable Homes
* Double Glazing & Conservatory Ombudsman Scheme
* EcoHomes
* Energy efficiency in British housing
* Energy Saving Trust
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* Greenhouse gas emissions
* HTB
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* Category

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States

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