The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has awarded contracts worth a total of £30 million ($38.8 million) to initiate research into safer and more cost-effective methods for nuclear decommissioning. These contracts, awarded to more than 60 organizations, including nuclear companies, UK universities, national laboratories, and small and medium-sized enterprises, aim to address the challenges of decommissioning nuclear sites that were not originally designed with this process in mind.
The funding will promote academic research in areas such as decommissioning, radioactive waste management, spent fuel storage and disposal, and the development of plutonium and uranics strategies. The three contracts will run for four years and replace the previous Direct Research Portfolio (DRP) awarded in 2020.
The NDA invests £100 million annually into R&D to find innovative solutions to technical challenges at the lowest possible cost. Previous successes include the development of new treatment technologies for uranic materials and a non-contact asbestos detection system using hyperspectral techniques.