National Nuclear Laboratory

Using Our Facilities

Collaboration is an essential part of our success. We help to translate fundamental research into real-life solutions for industry. Part of this role involves providing access to our world-class facilities for others to develop their work.

Access to all of NNL’s facilities is available to researchers, subject to each site’s security and commercial obligations, and contains a vast array of different laboratories and analytical capabilities.

We have three key access types:

Postal
Samples are sent to an NNL facility for examination by an NNL scientist. This is typically used for turnkey techniques where interpretation at the instrument/in the laboratory is not needed (such as x-ray CT), where data can be examined off site.

Attending (Hands-in-Pockets)
The researcher is able to join an NNL scientist on site to examine their samples, but is present as a guide for the NNL scientist. In the past this has been used for electron microscopy examination of specimens, or sample preparation where the intimate knowledge of the researcher is required to augment the NNL scientist. Typically limited to 15 days in a calendar year.

Residential
Access to NNL’s facilities in a “traditional” sense – the researcher is trained to access and work in NNL’s facilities to the same standard as NNL staff. This is a lengthier process requiring onsite training before beginning work.

Each site has a dedicated user access representative who is knowledgeable of the specifics for their respective site’s access arrangements.

If you would like to find out more about accessing our facilities please contact us.