Simulating material properties and fundamental material behaviour has a number of very important advantages over pure experimental work.This is a purposely a rather all-encompassing statement and the best way to demonstrate this is to give some examples that exemplify the advantages, show the short comings and explore how every institution can benefit from material modelling to some extent.The four examples to be considered are not strategic examples but highlight the breadth and expediency of simulations on the atomic scale (and how they can be used to save a few thousand Yuan).These subjects are:ZrB2, a burnable poison for boiling water reactor fuel control.Fission product behaviour in UO2 and effects of extended burnups and variation in stoichiometry.The effect of alloying elements and common impurities in beryllium metal, a candidate fusion material.Modelling pyrochlore and defective fluorite oxides for waste management purposes.By having an understanding of the fundamental material behaviour, engineering predictions can be used to focus research, target niché areas or un-explored material compositions or manufacture techniques or simply predict whether an engineering component will work to its required specifications well.