ESR Technology was formerly the engineering, safety and risk business of

AEA Technology Ricardo-AEA Ltd, trading as Ricardo Energy & Environment, was formed on November 8, 2012, when Ricardo acquired the business, operating assets and employees engaged in the business of AEA Technology Plc (AEAT, in administration) (AEA Europe), fo ...

, which was formed from the commercial arm of the

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ...

. It specializes in the provision of technical expertise, products, and services to help customers ensure asset integrity, improve machine reliability, manage safety and risk, and transfer best practice. It has customers across many sectors, including oil and gas, rail, utilities, aviation, and space and defense. It operates three centers of excellence: the National Centre of Tribology, European Space Tribology Laboratory, and the National Non-Destructive Test Centre. The company's main operations are located at

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

(Head Office) in England, Milton ( Oxfordshire) in England, and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in Scotland. __TOC__

History

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) was established in 1954 as a

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

research organization responsible for the development of nuclear

fusion power Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices de ...

. The National Non-Destructive Testing Centre (NNDTC) was created at UKAEA's Harwell research establishment in 1967. The center's formation created a central NDT research base in the UK. In 1982 from within the NNDTC the Harwell Offshore Inspection Service (HOIS) was formed as a joint industry project to improve the effectiveness of in-service inspection for the oil and gas industry. The UKAEA's Safety and Risk Directorate was at the forefront of developments such as Quantified Risk Assessment (QRA) that were transferred from the nuclear industry and applied within major hazard industries such as

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable so ...

process A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic. Things called a process include: Business and management *Business process, activities that produce a specific se ...

, and oil and gas. In 1966 the Jost Report was published, commissioned by the UK government which led to the development of

Tribology Tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion. It includes the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication and wear. Tribology is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on many academic f ...

as an inter-disciplinary study of

friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of ...

wear Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology. Wear in ...

, and lubrication and the establishment of three tribology centers in the UK. The National Centre of Tribology (NCT) was one of them. Following from this in 1972 the European Space Research Organisation (now

ESA , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

) made the decision to create a Centre of Excellence in

Space tribology Space tribology is a discipline in the field of tribology which deals with tribological systems for spacecraft applications. Research in the field aims to design reliable tribological systems that can withstand the harsh environment of space. Ch ...

to support Europe's early space industry. NCT won the contracts for this and the European Space Tribology Laboratory (ESTL) was created. These four different divisions (NCT, HOIS, ESTL, and SRD) were joined in 1996 by the formation of AEA Technology, an offshoot of UKAEA offering expertise in a wide variety of areas including tribology, non-destructive testing, and quantified risk assessments. In 2005 ESR Technology was formed out of a divestment by AEA Technology creating an independent engineering consultancy business specializing in forensic engineering, tribology, space tribology, safety and risk management, and non-destructive testing.

References

External links

Official Company Website
Service companies of the United Kingdom {{UK-service-company-stub