UK Japan Civil Nuclear Research Programme 2025 (Grant)

To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. Check if your organisation is eligible.

EPSRC standard eligibility rules apply. For full details, visit EPSRC’s eligibility page.

International researchers

Project co-leads (international) (previously overseas co-investigators) can be employed by Norwegian institutions, subject to the conditions in the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Research Council of Norway (RCN) money follows cooperation agreement.

For full details, visit Roles in funding applications.

Resubmissions

We will not accept uninvited resubmissions of projects that have been submitted to UKRI or any other funder.

Find out more about EPSRC’s resubmissions policy.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

• career breaks

• support for people with caring responsibilities

• flexible working

• alternative working patterns

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

Scope

The UK Japan Civil Nuclear Research Programme 2025 is a jointly funded opportunity between EPSRC and Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and aims to target key challenges in the decommissioning of both Fukushima and Sellafield nuclear power plants.

This programme supports advances in knowledge which will support the UK’s ambition to ramp up our nuclear capacity in the UK to up to 24GW by 2050 and also to become a clean energy superpower. There is a strong focus on our ability to decommission legacy nuclear power plants such as Sellafield, to enable the scaling up of UK’s nuclear programme.

There is a need to research ways into decommissioning these plants in an easier, safer, more cost effective and sustainable way. This research will increase our knowledge on how to decommission these new reactors once they reach end of life and will help to find solutions in decommissioning our current legacy nuclear power plants.

The funding opportunity will directly deliver against the UK Japan Civil Nuclear Research Programme objectives and EPSRC’s engineering net zero priority ambitions, by targeting key challenges of the decommissioning process of both Fukushima and Sellafield nuclear power plants.

UKRI and MEXT in Japan has identified priority issues which potential applicants within the UK research and innovation community must address to help deliver the objectives of the programme.

Proposals must address issues in at least one of the three fields:

• radioactive waste treatment, packaging, and storage

• robotic and autonomous systems for decommissioning

• fuel debris and materials

• decommissioning technology

Within these fields, we would like research proposals to fall within the sub-themes.

Radioactive waste treatment, packaging, and storage

The sub-themes for this section include:

• waste characterisation

• treatment and immobilisation of radioactive wastes

• sludge and slurry treatment

Robotic and autonomous systems for decommissioning

The sub-themes for this section include:

• remote handling and remote inspection

• radiation hardened detector

• integrated robotic systems

• digital twins and artificial intelligence

Fuel debris and materials

The sub-themes for this section include:

• fuel debris characterisation and aging

• modelling of fuel debris behaviours

• characterisation of radioactive aerosols

Decommissioning technology

The sub-themes for this section include:

• monitoring

• in situ repair

• risk management

• advanced data analysis and modelling

Differences to a standard application

Applications must include a collaboration between UK-based and Japan-based researchers.

This is a jointly funded opportunity between EPSRC and MEXT. The UK partner should submit their proposal part to EPSRC, and the Japanese partner should submit their part to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and the Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS).

Proposals should meet the following criteria:

• projects are to be of fixed duration, with a fixed start date of 3 November 2025 and a fixed end date of 31 March 2028. This fixed timeline is set to accommodate Japan’s funding cycle

• the Vison and Approach can be up to 12 sides of A4 to match the allowed limit in Japan

• the Vison and Approach submitted to EPSRC should match the content submitted to JAEA and CLADS as closely as possible given the difference in language. It must describe the work being done in both Japan and the UK

• you should request only the travel and subsistence cost for the UK part of the project. Your Japanese partner should request any funds they need from MEXT

Duration

The duration of this award is up to 36 months.

Projects should start as close to their Japanese counterparts as possible and ideally by 3 November 2025 to coincide with the Japanese funding cycle.

Funding available

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £593,750.

EPSRC will fund 80% of the FEC.

EPSRC will only fund the UK component of the research.

What we will fund

Equipment

Funding for equipment (up to £400,000 per item) is available through this funding opportunity.

Quotes for equipment do not need to be included in your application, but please retain quotes for equipment costing more than £138,000 as we may ask for these at post-panel stage before releasing funds.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process:

Proposals will not undergo postal expert review but will undergo an expert review panel. Pre-panel comments from panel members will be shared with you. You will have an opportunity to make a response to these comments in writing before the expert panel.

Component proposals from Japan-based researchers will be assessed by interview panel in Japan. UK partners may be asked by their Japanese partners to contribute to the Japan interview via teleconference or video conference, but this is not mandatory. There will not be an equivalent interview stage in the UK. The UK applications will be assessed by an expert panel as detailed above. Both UK and Japan-based applicants will be notified of the outcomes of the Japanese interview at this stage.

Successful proposals from this interview stage will be assessed by a joint UK-Japan expert panel resulting in a rank-ordered list. The panel will make a combined assessment of the proposals against the EPSRC and MEXT assessment. The UK assessment criteria is listed in the Assessment areas section.

Funding decisions will be made following the outcomes of the combined panel, and you will be informed of the outcome as soon as possible after the panel meeting.

Principles of assessment

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in peer review

Reviewers and panellists are not permitted to use generative AI tools to develop their assessment. Using these tools can potentially compromise the confidentiality of the ideas that applicants have entrusted to UKRI to safeguard.

For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI.

Assessment areas

The assessment areas we will use are:

VisionApproachApplicant and team capability to deliverResources and cost justificationEthics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)National importance

Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Click here to start application on the UKRI Funding Service Are you leading the project? - UKRI Funding Service

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.

The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

To apply

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.

1. Confirm you are the project lead.

2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email support@funding-service.ukri.orgPlease allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this Opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you.

3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.

4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.

5. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.

6. Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

When including images, you must:

• provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)

• insert each new image on a new line

• use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application may be rejected if you include:

• sentences or paragraphs of text

• tables

• excessive quantities of images

A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.

Watch our research office webinars about the Funding Service.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:

• how applicants use the Funding Service

• how research offices use the Funding Service

• how reviewers use the Funding Service

References

References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.

Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:

• references are easily identifiable by the assessors

• references are formatted as appropriate to your research

• persistent identifiers are used where possible

General use of hyperlinks

Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI)

Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.

For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment.

Deadline

EPSRC must receive your application by 12 June 2025 at 4:00pm UK time

You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected. If an application is withdrawn prior to expert review or office rejected due to substantive errors in the application, it cannot be resubmitted to the opportunity.

Personal data

Processing personal data

EPSRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.

EPSRC as part of UKRI, will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency uses personal information, visit JAEA Personal information policy and consent (PDF, 61 KB).

Sensitive information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email tfschangeepsrc@epsrc.ukri.org

Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].

Typical examples of confidential information include:

• individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)

• declaration of interest

• additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section

• conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection

• the application is an invited resubmission

For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.

Publication of outcomes

EPSRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at EPSRC Funding Applications Outcomes.

If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Summary

Word limit: 550

In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:

• opinion-formers

• policymakers

• the public

• the wider research community

Guidance for writing a summary

Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:

• context

• the challenge the project addresses

• aims and objectives

• potential applications and benefits

Core team

List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:

• project lead (PL)

• project co-lead (UK) (PcL)

• project co-lead (international) (PcL (I)

• research and innovation associate

• technician

• visiting researcher

• researcher co-lead (RcL)

Only list one individual as project lead.

Please include the project lead on the Japanese side in the Vision and Approach but do not include any costings or time for this person. EPSRC will not fund any individuals or research from the Japanese side.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.

Vision and Approach

Create a document that includes your responses to all criteria. The document should not be more than 12 sides of A4, single spaced in paper in 11-point Arial (or equivalent sans serif font) with margins of at least 2cm. You may include images, graphs, tables. You can have an additional page for a diagrammatic workplan and another additional page for a project organisation diagram. Contact your Japanese collaborator for guidance as this is included in their application form.

For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Vision and Approach’.

Save this document as a single PDF file, no bigger than 8MB. Unless specifically requested, please do not include any sensitive personal data within the attachment.

If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

What are you hoping to achieve with and how will you deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

For the Vision, explain how your proposed work:

• is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)

• has the potential to advance current understanding, generates new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area

• is timely given current trends, context and needs

• impacts world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment

For the Approach, explain how you have designed your work so that it:

• is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives

• is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed

• if applicable, uses a clear and transparent methodology

• if applicable, summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed

• will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts

• describes how your, and if applicable your team’s, research environment (in terms of the place, and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work

References may be included within this section.

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Word limit: 1,650

Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:

• the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work

• the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work

• the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others

• contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

The word count for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for R4RI modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.

Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:

• contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge

• the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships

• contributions to the wider research and innovation community

• contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit

Additions

Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).

Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.

References may be included within this section.

The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.

Project partners

Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.

A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.

Add the following project partner details:

• the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)

• the project partner contact name and email address

• the type of contribution (direct or in-direct) and its monetary value

If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Project partners: letters (or emails) of support

Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the Project partners section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter ‘N/A’. Each letter or email you provide should:

• confirm the partner’s commitment to the project

• clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them

• describe any additional value that they bring to the project

• the page limit is two sides A4 per partner

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the contributions template.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Do not provide letters of support from host and project co-leads’ research organisations.

Facilities

Word limit: 250

Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you will need to use a facility, follow your proposed facility’s normal access request procedures. Ensure you have prior agreement so that if you are offered funding, they will support the use of their facility on your project.

For each requested facility you will need to provide the:

• name of facility, copied and pasted from the facility information list (DOCX, 42KB)

• proposed usage or costs, or costs per unit where indicated on the facility information list

• confirmation you have their agreement where required

Facilities should only be named if they are on the facility information list above.

If you will not need to use a facility, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Resources and cost justification

Word limit: 1,000

What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:

• project staff

• significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)

• any equipment that will cost more than £25,000

• any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities

• all facilities and infrastructure costs

• all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’

You can request costs associated with reasonable adjustments where they increase as a direct result of working on the project. For further information see Disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders.

Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:

• are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified

• represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes

• maximise potential outcomes and impacts

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Word limit: 500

What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:

• the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations

• how you will manage these considerations

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Additional sub-questions (to be answered only if appropriate) will be included in the Funding Service. These will ask about numbers, species/strain and justification about:

• genetic and biological risk

• research involving the use of animals

• conducting research with animal overseas

• research involving human participation

• research involving human tissues or biological samples

National importance

Word limit: 500

Please explain how your research is nationally important to the nuclear decommissioning sector?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

You should describe how the research:

• contributes to or helps maintain the health of other disciplines

• contributes to addressing key UK societal challenges

• contributes to future UK economic success and development of emerging industry or industries

• meets national needs by establishing or maintaining a unique world-leading activity

• complements other UK research funded in the area, including any relationship to the EPSRC portfolio

• plans for dissemination and knowledge exchange with potential beneficiaries of the research

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

Background

This funding opportunity delivers against the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) 2022 to 2027 strategy, transforming tomorrow together, to:

• support world-class impact

• focus the UK’s world-class science and innovation to target global and national challenges

• create and exploit tomorrow’s technologies

• build the high-growth business sectors of the future

This funding opportunity also helps to deliver the recent UK government mission: to make Britain a clean energy superpower, which aims to:

• set up Great British Energy to cut bills for good

• establish energy independence

• provide 650,000 new high-quality jobs

• create warmer homes to slash fuel poverty

There is a key highlight of this mission to accelerate net zero and produce clean power by 2030 in which research in this area will help enable nuclear fission to be a sustainable and clean power source.

Key council strategies

In addition, this funding opportunity responds to the following EPSRC key council strategies.

EPSRC’s engineering net zero strategy

The goal of EPSRC’s engineering net zero strategy is to invest in research and innovation critical to the discovery, development and deployment of technologies and solutions to increase the speed of the deliverability of net zero and to shift us away from environmentally detrimental industries and processes to more sustainable and circular alternatives. This includes pioneering new technologies and the rapid scaling and evolution of current technologies.

UK Japan Civil Nuclear Research Programme 2025 background

This is an EPSRC funding opportunity in collaboration with the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the Nuclear Safety Research Association. We are inviting collaborative research applications with UK and Japan-based project leads relating to the removal of fuel debris and environmental safety around reactor core decommissioning of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and Sellafield’s decommissioning challenges.

EPSRC will fund the UK-based research and MEXT will fund the Japan-based research components. This funding opportunity represents the eleventh phase of the UK-Japan Civil Nuclear Research Programme, and it is for small projects of approximately 30 months duration, with a fixed end date of 31 March 2028.

Research and innovation impact

Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.

Research disruption due to COVID-19

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:

• breaks and delays

• disruptive working patterns and conditions

• the loss of ongoing work

• role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic

Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.

Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.

Related content

• UKRI policies and standards

• EPSRC policies and standards

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the Helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility or content/remit of an opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Contact details

For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact ethan.tull@epsrc.ukri.org

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.orgPhone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

• Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm

• Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries quicker, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service.