Nuclear Criticality Experimental Reseach and Development (NCERD)
Our Mission: To advance nuclear science through controlled criticality.
Our Vision: To become a world leading centre for nuclear criticality research and development, achieving global standards for scientific excellence and integrity, the safe evolution of nuclear technologies, and training the next generation of nuclear specialists necessary to achieve Net-Zero and defeat climate change.
Project FAWKES seeks to restore sovereign UK capability to undertake nuclear criticality experiments in a dedicated Nuclear Criticality Research and Development (NCERD) facility. Such a facility is a specialist research installation that brings fissile material into a carefully controlled configuration so that a short-lived fission chain reaction can be observed and measured. Unlike a nuclear power reactor, which is designed to sustain fission to generate electricity, NCERD would produce brief, tightly controlled pulses for experimental purposes only. This would provide the UK with a rare strategic capability to generate high-value experimental evidence.
The value of NCERD lies in the quality of this evidence it can produce. Experimental data from a critical facility is fundamental for validating nuclear data libraries and the computer codes used to design, assess and license reactors, fuels and associated systems. Stronger validation reduces technical uncertainty, improves confidence in safety cases and can avoid unnecessary conservatism in design and operation. In practical terms, that can translate into material economic benefit as better validated methods can help developers avoid over-design, reduce rework, shorten development timelines and support more efficient regulatory engagement. For advanced nuclear projects, where schedule and licensing risk can be commercially decisive, access to a domestic source of benchmark-quality data would therefore have strategic as well as economic value.