NuSAC/SCR/06/11 HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMISSION NUCLEAR SAFETY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

NuSAC/SCR/06/11
HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMISSION
NUCLEAR SAFETY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
SUB-COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH
4 April 2006
NDA Management of University Research Interactions
Paper by NDA
Prepared by:
Neil Smart, NDA
G Bryan, Nexia Solutions
www.nda.gov.uk
Background
The NDA remit as set out within the Energy Act includes – “promote, and where
necessary fund, generic research relevant to nuclear clean up”. NDA need to underpin
delivery and / or accelerate programmes to fulfill our overall mission and technical
underpinning of these activities is critical. NDA value the contribution made to the
mission from the University Sector.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of how NDA manages interactions
with Universities. In doing so it will summarise some of the objectives in working with
universities, describe the University Research Alliances and other key relationships.
www.nda.gov.uk
Overview
The relationship with universities is presented schematically in Figure 1:
Figure 1
Relationship between NDA structure and University contracts
NDA
Nexia
URA’s
NDE
Individual
contracts
Nirex
Westlakes
Individual
contracts
UCLAN
SLC’s
Nexia
Individual
contracts
NDA has no direct contracts with Universities. The main contract management
mechanisms are via Nexia Solutions and Nirex. A small number of contracts are placed
directly by Site License Companies (SLC’s) with Universities. In the event that a SLC
wishes to place work with a University, a common mechanism has been to route that
work through Nexia Solutions, where the combination of expertise in Nexia and the
University is the service required.
Westlakes lead in the specific area of Epidemiology and Radiation Biology and have
strong links into UCLAN (as their parent organisation).
Two main benefits are seen from the interactions with Universities:
1. Research output against specific needs
2. Development of skilled personnel with potential for eventual employment in the
nuclear industry.
www.nda.gov.uk
Specifics Interactions - University Research Alliances
Nexia Solutions is the largest remaining nuclear R&D organisation in the UK and the
last operator of large scale nuclear R&D facilities. It supplies nuclear R&D services to a
range of customers including the NDA, the companies that operate sites on behalf of
NDA, British Energy, MoD and others. Nexia Solutions grew out of the R&D
organisations of BNFL and Magnox Electric and has a very strong industrial R&D
capability. There are mutual benefits in working with Universities. Nexia Solutions
benefits by gaining access to skills and facilities that are complementary to those
available in Nexia Solutions. The Universities gain through access to industrial
technologists and facilities. Both parties together can access a wider range of
customers and funding than is available to either in isolation.
University Research Alliances
The 4 University Research Alliances (URAs) form the cornerstone of Nexia Solutions’
interactions with universities. These are series of Alliances between Nexia Solutions
and a research centre at a university. The Alliances were established between 1999
and 2002 and were originally funded by BNFL. The funding obligations were taken over
by the NDA in April 2005. The research topics and universities involved are:
Centre for Radiochemistry Research, University of Manchester - 1999
Particle Science and Technology, University of Leeds – 2000
Immobilisation Science Laboratory, Sheffield University – 2001
Materials performance Centre, originally UMIST, now University of Manchester –
2002
The first, radiochemistry, was established to overcome the lack of skilled radiochemists
being generated by university departments. The remaining three were established to
develop research capabilities in topics where a need for research was anticipated.
In each case the concept was the same. BNFL would provide funding approximately
£2M of core funding over a 5 year period. The funding would primarily be used to fund
the salaries of several members of staff, who would in turn build a research group and
attract further funding from other areas such as research councils, the European
Commission and industrial customers. At the end of 5 years the Universities would take
over responsibility for funding the staff posts and the research group would have
become self sustaining.
Each centre was set a target to achieve 400% gearing within 5 years. i.e. to attract at
least four times the core funding from other sources.
www.nda.gov.uk
In each case the Alliance and the award of a contract to the University in question was
the result of an open competition and an evaluation of bids against a series of criteria
which included:
•
•
•
The extent of an existing research capability,
The scope of facilities available
The vision presented by the University, including factors such as:
•
The vision for the eventual capability
•
Plans for, or the existence of, international links
•
A willingness to work with other Universities / research groups
•
The commercial offer, including factors such as :
•
Proposals for University funding of a director
•
The number and level of academic posts to be created
•
The leverage on core funding
•
Favourable rates for charging overheads
In evaluating the proposals other minor factors were also taken into account, including
geography and the ease with which BNFL, later Nexia Solutions, could interact with the
University.
In addition to carrying out research within the centre, each of the research centres
works with other research groups in a hub and spoke model (see figure 2). That is that
the centre forms the primary contact and works with research groups at other
universities. In particular the relationships include:
Centre for Radiochemistry Research UCLAN
Particle Science and Technology
Imperial College, Aberdeen University, Surrey
University
Immobilisation Science Laboratory Cambridge University, Warwick University
Materials performance Centre
Oxford University
One of the factors that characterises these research groups is that they have developed
to fill a gap in the research capability available within the University sector.
Consideration was also given to establishing an Alliance to develop a centre of
excellence in environmental research. However this plan was not pursued when it was
established that a substantial capability already existed in this area at a number of
universities. Thus there was no need to fund the development of another centre of
expertise.
www.nda.gov.uk
Other relationships
The University Research Alliances are bilateral agreements between Nexia Solutions
which are underpinned financially by NDA. A different strategy was adopted to fund
research into Non Destructive Examination. The Research Centre for Non Destructive
Examination differs in that it is funded by EPSRC and a wide variety of industrial
sponsors and the research is carried out by research groups at a variety of universities
including Warwick, Bath, Bristol, Strathclyde, Imperial College and Nottingham. This
model allows industry to access the skills available at a range of Universities and for the
Universities to develop solutions that may be applicable in a wide range of industries, of
which the nuclear industry is only one.
Nexia Solutions has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dalton
Nuclear Institute with the intention of developing an appropriate relationship that may
facilitate the use of nuclear R&D facilities and the preparation of joint proposals.
In addition to the links mentioned above Nexia Solutions also has relationships with
research groups at a number of universities in respect of specific research topics. These
include the following Universities:
Dundee, Birmingham , Surrey, Liverpool, Edinburgh, University College London, South
Bank University, Queeen’s University of Belfast
Future Strategies for NDA supported University Research
(1) The Dalton Cumbria Facility
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the University of Manchester via its
Dalton Nuclear Institute have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to invest
£10m each in the establishment of a substantial research and education facility. The
facility, called the Dalton Cumbria Facility (DCF), will be centred in West Cumbria and
linked with access to the Sellafield Technology Centre (STC). The Business Plan has
been produced by the Dalton Nuclear Institute in conjunction with the NDA and Nexia
Solutions who are under contract with the NDA to operate the STC.
The vision of the collaboration is to establish a substantial postgraduate research and
education facility in West Cumbria to uplift the University of Manchester’s nuclear
capability, undertake research in key areas relating to the NDA’s clean-up mission,
underpin critical skill areas and input to the socio-economic regeneration of the region.
There will be a range of outcomes from this collaboration:
www.nda.gov.uk
o A fully utilised physical DCF building with high quality teaching and education
facilities performing world class research in Radiation Sciences and
Engineering Decommissioning. The quality of research at the DCF will be
measured through the number of publications, its research grant application
success ratio and its contribution to the University’s overall RAE
assessments.
o Secured access for DCF staff to the Sellafield Technology Centre (and visa
versa) with a seamless link between the two facilities with respect to
undertaking work programmes and movement of staff.
(2) Development of a Strategy for Interaction with Framework 7
NDA Research Board supported a strategy to provide support for a strategic
framework to develop research activities under the EU framework 7 research
programme. At its simplest level this would entail support for interaction with programme
initiation activities, development of areas of common interest and support for proposal
development for organisations wishing to supplement NDA supported programmes with
European funding. The key issue will be that an overall strategy of support will be
available.
(3)
Support for key university activities to align with NDA mission and UK wide
remit.
NDA will develop a strategy for overall management of University research that not only
reflects the historic activities of BNFL (e.g. URA’s) but takes into account the broader
remit. NDA continues to support the URA concept but expect to develop wider across
the UK.
www.nda.gov.uk
Figure 1
Research Alliance Hub and Spoke Model
NDA
Funding / £
Nexia
Solutions
University
Technical
collaboration
University
University
University
www.nda.gov.uk
University