The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has awarded GBP30 million (USD39.1 million) to four-year projects to drive “new techniques to deliver safe, sustainable and cost-effective decommissioning”.

Seven consortiums involving 60 organisations were involved in the successful bids for contracts covering three areas: supporting academic research to grow skills within the nuclear decommissioning sector; research into radioactive waste management and decommissioning techniques; and research relating to used fuel storage and disposal and plutonium and uranics strategy development.

The NDA Research Portfolio (NRP) competition is part of the UK government agency’s annual GBP100 million investment in research and development.

Head of Research and Development at the NDA, Kate Canning, said: “It’s an exciting time for the nuclear industry and we believe the range of organisations involved in the frameworks will provide a diverse range of experience and knowledge to deliver innovative research supporting the delivery of the NDA mission.”

Previous NRP research has included the development of a non-contact asbestos detection system utilising hyperspectral techniques.