ACORN was formed at an opportune moment: at sites in Oxfordshire and Cumbria, operators, researchers and supply chain partners are now using world-leading robotics and AI practices to reduce the cost, timescales and hazard of decommissioning legacy nuclear facilities.
About
ACORN aims to accelerate the commercialisation of robotics and AI, making nuclear decommissioning safer, faster and cheaper, while stimulating regional job creation and economic growth in Oxfordshire and Cumbria.
What we do
The programme aims to progress robotics and AI technologies by providing funding to forge collaborations between research and commercial organisations.
This is also a chance to deliver opportunity, training and jobs in Oxfordshire and Cumbria; ACORN will fund the work of local outreach and EDI activities across the regions, to find, engage and inspire a culture of inclusive innovation.
By enhancing nuclear decommissioning with robotics and AI, we can enhance local lives, create jobs, and grow a next-generation workforce made up of talented local people from diverse backgrounds and communities.
How we do it
With funding from EPSRC, we’re delivering a £5 million programme in collaboration with UKAEA and the Universities of Cumbria, Manchester and Oxford, to test, prove and commercialise technologies, and deliver immediate impacts and benefits across Oxfordshire and Cumbria.
If you’re part of a research organisation, you can apply for funding to establish partnerships with supply chain organisations, commercialise your emerging technologies, make a demonstrable impact to economic growth, and contribute to the UK’s world-leading expertise in nuclear decommissioning.
This funding can be used for networking events, secondments to share the intelligence and resources of faculties and facilities, and to activate collaborations with the nuclear supply chain, commercial robotics and AI companies, and nuclear site operators in Oxfordshire and Cumbria.
Play a part in making next-generation nuclear decommissioning happen. Eligible research organisations are encouraged to make applications in collaboration with commercial organisations to one of the three ACORN funding schemes.
Areas of interest
We believe the partnerships, innovations, and initiatives activated by ACORN can build on the UK’s world leading expertise in nuclear robotics and AI, to deliver economic growth, equal opportunity, and shared prosperity across Oxfordshire and Cumbria.
These two regions have a shared history of nuclear innovation, and there is a need to exchange expertise to develop shared solutions for common challenges.
Oxfordshire
Decommissioning is well underway at Harwell’s historic reactors, and has just begun at the Joint European Torus (JET) on the Culham site.
Cumbria
Sellafield is home to the most significant nuclear decommissioning challenges in the UK, accounting for almost 75% of the UK’s estimated decommissioning costs.
Our governance
Funding is awarded based on consortium reviews and project partner panels made up of representatives from industry, SMEs, local civic bodies, nuclear operators and researchers.