Core UK Equipment Base for Characterisation and Analysis of Highly Radioactive Materials

学术核裂变研究在过去十年中从零左右的基础增加到目前的38M（通常是每年8- 900万）。参与核研究的工业界和广泛的英国大学网络都强调了使用真实的，因此根据定义是高放射性的材料进行研究的重要性。虽然一些英国大学经常在自己的实验室里使用少量的放射性物质，但英国唯一可以让大学研究人员进行高放射性物质研究的设施是英国国家物理实验室的中央实验室。由于缺乏合适的设施和设备，英国学术界进行的任何核研究都被限制在模拟或有限的海外项目中。虽然在这些限制条件下，科学的质量是好的，但所有海外竞争者现在都可以使用国家实验室的专门设备，而基于模拟的工作越来越被视为低于正常的质量基准。因此，任何可信的英国研究项目都必须在其基础上具备处理高放射性样本并对其进行表征的能力。英国在核科学与技术的许多领域也面临着重大的研发和技能挑战，这些挑战只能通过一个协调一致的、跨学科的、跨机构的研究和培训项目来解决，这些项目是围绕工业界、监管机构和学术界之间的密切合作建立起来的。这一计划必须得到设施的支持，不仅要用于制备高放射性样品，而且还要用于它们的表征。由于中央实验室目前面向工业驱动的发展，在这种发展中特征化不是优先事项，因此需要大大提高其在这方面的能力。因此，提供最先进的分析和表征设施将支持英国所有优先核研究主题的研究，从而使整个核学术部门受益。因此，我们建议在国家核实验室的中央实验室建立一个核心设备基地。这在英国将是独一无二的，并将促进世界一流的基础研究。优先领域是光谱学和电子光学

Academic nuclear fission research has increased over the last ten years from a base of around zero to a current portfolio about 38M (typically 8-9M/annum). Both industry and the extensive UK university network involved in nuclear research have stressed the importance of research using authentic, and thus by definition highly radioactive, materials. While a few UK universities routinely use small quantities of radioactive materials in their own laboratories, the only facility in the UK that could be accessed by university researchers for work on highly radioactive materials is the NNL's Central Laboratory.Due to the absence of suitable facilities and equipment, any nuclear research carried out by UK academia is restricted either to simulants or to limited programmes carried out overseas. While the quality of science is good within these constraints, all overseas competitors now have access to specialised facilities in national laboratories and work based on simulants is increasingly seen as falling below the normal quality benchmark. Any credible UK research programme must therefore have at its foundation the ability to work with and characterise highly radioactive samples. The UK also faces major R&D and skills challenges in many areas of nuclear science and technology, which can only be met by a concerted, cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional programme of research and training built around close collaboration between industry, regulators and academia. This programme must be underpinned by facilities not just for the preparation of highly radioactive samples, but also for their characterisation. Since Central Laboratory is presently geared towards industrially driven development in which characterisation is a lesser priority, its capability in this area needs to be significantly enhanced. The provision of state-of-the-art analysis and characterisation facilities will therefore support research across all of the UK's priority nuclear research themes, and thus benefit the entire nuclear academic sector. We therefore propose to establish a core equipment base could be established in the National Nuclear Laboratory's Central Laboratory. This would be unique in the UK and facilitate world class fundamental research. Priority areas are spectroscopy and electron optics