The UK Government, through its most recent Energy White Paper, remains committed to Nuclear Power as an important part of the energy generation capacity over the next 30 - 50 years, and possibly beyond. The recently published 'Nuclear Industrial Strategy' (2013) describes clearly the Governments aspirations for both 'New Build' power stations and the life extension of the existing fleet within this timeline. A central component of public acceptance for this new build programme remains the need to demonstrate our ability to safely manage and dispose of high- and intermediate-level wastes from the legacy nuclear operations. This clearly links to on-going studies of public attitudes to nuclear power which repeatedly show that acceptance of this technology is directly linked to having viable routes for the safe clean-up and disposal of any wastes arising. Within the 'Nuclear Industrial Strategy' clear milestones associated with the needs of "waste management & decommissioning" are provided and most of these rely upon further research and technical developments being delivered over the next 10 - 20 years. Indeed, central objectives for the strategy are "To have a joined up approach to nuclear R&D across government, industry and academia which serves to benefit the UK economy and ensures the security of supply" and "To establish the UK industry as a global leader in waste management and decommissioning ...". It is clear, therefore, that there is a substantial, current and real need for further research in the broad area of nuclear wastes supporting this strategy. This consortium addresses the broad area of nuclear waste and decommissioning bringing together key industry partners and leading academic researchers from 11 of the UKs leading research intensive universities. The research proposed is multi-disciplinary in its scope and covers both fundamental and applied topics associated with this important industry. The consortium includes 30 separate research projects clustered into 4 major themes, viz.: Spent Fuels, Plutonium Oxide & fuel residues, Legacy ponds & silo wastes, and Structural Integrity. All members of the consortium are leading researchers in this field. They come from a diverse array of backgrounds and experience, but all with a track-record of innovation and problem solving of relevance in the nuclear field. This consortium builds upon and consolidates the work of a previous EPSRC funded programme in the same field, known as Diamond (Decommissioning, immobilisation and management of nuclear wastes for disposal, EP/F055412/1). Importantly, this new proposal draws in researchers from a larger group of universities and increases the multi-disciplinary nature of the group. All participating research groups have a strong track-record of supporting the nuclear industry through basic and applied research as well as consultancy activities. As with our earlier consortium, a key aim here is to further extend and develop a relevant academic skill base in the UK associated with the needs of the nuclear waste management industry. importantly, we will do this by supporting cutting-edge research that has the potential to provide new and innovative pathways to better (that is safer and cheaper) management of both legacy and future nuclear wastes.

Plutonium dioxide is a very dynamic material. Radioactive decay damages the lattice and also forms other elements in the material. Helium, an inert gas, may be localised or trapped in the lattice, or maybe released. Uranium isotopes (formed from the decay of plutonium-238, 239, 240) and americium-241 (formed from decay of plutonium-241) are formed atom-by-atom within the plutonium dioxide lattice. The UK has 140 tonnes of separated plutonium in the form of plutonium dioxide, the World's largest civil stockpile. This has been separated over the last half century and will need to be stored for several decades into the future before its end use. Currently, Government intends most of this material to be made into nuclear reactor fuel ('mixed oxide fuel'), with a small proportion, which cannot be made into fuel, being disposed of as waste, although policy changes could lead to more of it being designated as waste. Whatever the final fate of the plutonium, the material will need to be processed into a suitable form for its end use, and its evolution while it is being stored will affect its suitability for processing. We therefore need to be able to predict how plutonium dioxide will change in storage, so we know whether it will be suitable for its final use. The purpose of this project is to understand how plutonium dioxide changes so we can make these predictions. We will make experimental measurements with plutonium dioxide to define the effects of radiation damage, helium formation and decay product formation on the material over timescales up to several decades. The evolution of plutonium dioxide will be explored using both a series of model samples and materials drawn from the UK stockpile. Behaviour of decay products will be determined using the stockpile materials. We will use synchrotron techniques (X-ray absorption spectroscopy, diffraction and tomography), electron microscopy and specific surface area measurements to characterise the materials. The results of these experiments will be used to develop computational models of plutonium dioxide evolution. Because decay products form atom-by-atom, and decay processes affect the electronic structure of the material, we need to model all these processes at the scale of individual atoms and small aggregates of atoms, but because the properties we are interested in are manifest at the lattice scale, we also need to understand how the atomic-scale effects carry across to this larger scale, and we will also develop models which we can use at this larger scale.

The proposed research will develop generic knowledge in the field of decommissioning engineering that can be used to solve problems associated with nuclear decommissioning. The work will be carried out under the auspices of the Dalton Institute of the University of Manchester and thus a multi-disciplinary approach to the research will be facilitated. Existing nuclear facilities (eg. Magnox, AGR Station, Reprocessing plant, medical waste) present significant challenges with respect to waste management and decommissioning. The research programme will expand and enhance the skill base in nuclear engineering and science in order to meet these challenges. Additionally, the research will provide valuable information for use in future generations of nuclear facilities so as to reduce decommissioning and waste management problems.The impact of the new Chair appointment will be enhanced by interactions with the already established links with industry and in particular with BNFL. Furthermore, the appointee will contribute to the training of research scientists, in an area of research where the demands of industry substantially exceed the availability of individuals with appropriate expertise.

Lancaster University is consistently ranked in the UK Top 10 (the only such NW university), and in the top 1% of universities worldwide. Lancaster plays a key role in the N8 Northern university partnership and the annual Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey places Lancaster in the UK top 10 for the number and value of its SME partnerships. To ensure the highest quality research Lancaster has made targeted investments of over £450m since 2004, with a further £135m planned for the next three years. Targeted and strategic investment is employed to expand in new areas and to improve performance in our current subject strengths. Areas of strength at Lancaster include: research in advanced functional materials; ultra-isolated environments; nuclear materials research; and development and the security of large-scale complex cyber-physical environments, and these four areas make up the themes of the experiment bundles in this application. Following a very strong performance in RAE 2008, we anticipate a strong outcome in the 2014 exercise to reinforce our position among the UK's very best research-led universities. The experimental equipment highlighted herein will support, refresh and update facilities in these areas. Existing academics in these fields have solid international reputations, and we are also recruiting 50 rising stars in celebration of our 50th anniversary, whose appointment will be strategically aligned to support and develop our very best research. Lancaster has a strong international presence through strategic international university and industrial partnerships. We collaborate globally on key research issues with international impact. Nationally, Lancaster is a leading research-intensive university. As a key partner in the N8 consortium, Lancaster contributes to the N8 database of assets and follows guidelines set out in the N8 Equipment Sharing Toolkit (N8 EST) to facilitate sharing of equipment between members. New state-of-the-art facilities in these key areas will lead to new research collaborations and opportunities - both at a national and international level and help to bring in talented collaborators not only to the UK but to the Northern region. Demand assessment studies conducted externally on behalf of Lancaster show significant industrial demand for the use of these facilities for their own research and development activities as well as research and innovation projects with the university. Lancaster University has an excellent track record of engaging with SMEs, and since 1998 it has delivered over 50 projects, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, totaling over £72m, enabling the university to work with over 5000 companies to date. An essential element of our sustainability model is the promotion of industrial access to our facilities and resources. The university already has in place access arrangements for industry in key facilities (InfoLab21, Lancaster Environment Centre and Engineering), with over 100 company staff currently co-located in facilities in our departments. The new Collaborative Technology Access Programme (cTAP) at Lancaster will develop a business model to provide managed industry access to an increasingly wide range of technologies on the campus, including the facilities highlighted within this proposal. We are developing a single entry route to our facilities, supported by a business-facing group of technical staff and believe we will be the first university to offer this service.

Geological disposal (GD) of radioactive waste, in deep underground repositories, was first proposed in the US in the '50s yet rarely has final disposal of waste been at the forefront of government and industry concerns. Much waste has been in 'interim storage' for decades. Meanwhile, more is produced through ongoing energy production. The GD approach to civil waste has crept up national policy agendas following an EU Directive in 2011 and the EU's Technology Platform determination that first disposal operations should begin somewhere in Europe by 2025. At various speeds, EU Member States are conducting further scientific research, progressing decisions on where to site GD and undertaking various forms of public engagement. Many countries have made limited headway or have deferred implementation decisions, while Finland has made 'most' progress against the Directive targets and now holds permission to start construction of disposal facilities. The publication of the UK Government White Paper 'Implementing Geological Disposal' in July 2014 (IGD2014) sets out a process to decide on the siting and building of a UK facility. Learning from earlier policy breakdowns the new policy promises to "provide a permanent solution" for the UK's existing and planned higher activity radioactive waste. The implementation of geological disposal - like many topics on nuclear matters - prompts numerous questions of social, technical, political and ethical character. The Series' primary focus is on nuclear waste, its management and proposed final disposal. However, radioactive waste is interwoven with multiple other concerns including: government policy on building new nuclear plants as part of an energy mix and a low carbon future; and ongoing and future decommissioning projects. For some, these discussions cannot be separated from military affairs, further entangling issues up for debate. Social science academics have written on nuclear topics in the past and under different policy conditions. However, it is timely to question these earlier works and to enlarge the arena of debate, expanding the social perspectives and including the technical. The goal is to transform thinking to address radioactive waste as a sociotechnical matter and to vitalise our research capacity. The proposed Series will build on an ESRC initiative in multi-disciplinary research training funded in 2013. That scheme enabled an experimental collaboration between social scientists associated with the White Rose DTC and engineers from the EPSRC-funded Nuclear First CDT. We now seek to expand this research potential beyond training provision and expand to include policy implementation concerns. In 7 meetings, over two and half years, the Series will bring social scientists from different disciplines together, alongside academic engineering communities, policy and industry bodies. Each meeting will involve talks from academic and non-academic partners, small group discussions, plenary sessions and activities. The seminars will provide opportunities for social science academics to connect directly to technical research communities and to non-academic bodies involved in GD policy. Policy bodies and engineering researchers will experience the process of social science debate and be exposed to critical thinking on their technical concerns. The meetings will thus enable knowledge exchange between groups that do not regularly interact, including social science researchers with technical policy implementation bodies. Meetings will be concurrent with specific aspects of the IGD2014 policy process: the possibility to inform ongoing implementation work makes the Series particularly timely. The significance and importance of the Series is evidenced by letters of support from key non-academic bodies and the substantial co-funding of the proposal. Output will include academic talks and papers; policy briefings; reports and designs for engagement activities