UK’s nuclear research body consults on plans to cut about 200 jobs
Move by UKNNL leads union to question government claims about ‘golden age’ for sector
Britain’s national nuclear research body is consulting on plans to cut its staffing by up to a fifth because of financial pressures, leading union officials to question the government’s claims to be building a “golden age” for the industry.
The United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL) is looking at cutting about 200 jobs from a workforce of about 1,100 via a mixture of voluntary and compulsory redundancies.
Described by ministers as “the custodian of some of the UK’s most critical nuclear skills and capabilities”, the public corporation’s research supports the development of cutting-edge technologies in nuclear generation, defence and other areas such as medicine.
The union Prospect, which represents staff at UKNNL, said the proposed cuts appeared to be driven by funding problems that had left the organisation unable to pursue its goals — and even, the union claimed, to honour its own contractual redundancy terms — rather than by any change of strategy.
“This would be a huge loss of skilled nuclear capability at exactly the time we are trying to scale up,” said Sue Ferns, Prospect’s senior deputy general secretary.
The proposed cuts at UKNNL are taking place as the government presses ahead with controversial plans to speed up the construction of nuclear power stations by weakening protections for nature, while also creating a fast-track system for “defence nuclear” projects.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has hailed these reforms — recommended by a task force led by John Fingleton, former head of the Office of Fair Trading — as a triumph of deregulation that will boost economic growth and energy security and usher in a “golden age of nuclear”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was on a visit to the laboratory’s Lancashire site when he pledged last year to “build, baby, build” by changing planning rules.
But UKNNL — which receives some grant funding but relies chiefly on commercial revenues — has run into mounting cost pressures and financial difficulties.
A strategic review of the laboratory, published at the end of 2024, led to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero taking a tighter grip and installing new management, although without any significant new injection of core grant funding at last year’s spending review.
The government argues that UKNNL’s operating costs have risen significantly in recent years and that the job cuts are part of a reset that is essential to make it sustainable.
The staff at risk of redundancy were “highly specialised” and unlikely to find similar roles near the UKNNL’s main sites, making the government’s recent announcement of a £65mn expansion of doctoral training places in nuclear science look “completely incoherent”, Ferns said. Prospect has also been campaigning against job cuts at the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
The UKNNL said the laboratory was consulting with recognised trade unions “on proposals that may involve changes to our organisation and a reduction in roles”, although no final decisions had been taken.
Given a “challenging” fiscal environment, the proposals were “about making sure we have the right structure and skills” to lead research in nuclear fission for decades to come, it added.
It declined to comment on the claim that UKNNL was unable to honour its own contractual redundancy terms.