diff --git a/nequip/data/misc.py b/nequip/data/misc.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..24aaed6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nequip/data/misc.py
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+"""
+Relevant chunk from ASE
+https://gitlab.com/ase/ase/-/blob/master/ase/data/__init__.py
+to reduce dependencies for nn modules
+"""
+
+chemical_symbols = [
+    "X",
+    "H",
+    "He",
+    "Li",
+    "Be",
+    "B",
+    "C",
+    "N",
+    "O",
+    "F",
+    "Ne",
+    "Na",
+    "Mg",
+    "Al",
+    "Si",
+    "P",
+    "S",
+    "Cl",
+    "Ar",
+    "K",
+    "Ca",
+    "Sc",
+    "Ti",
+    "V",
+    "Cr",
+    "Mn",
+    "Fe",
+    "Co",
+    "Ni",
+    "Cu",
+    "Zn",
+    "Ga",
+    "Ge",
+    "As",
+    "Se",
+    "Br",
+    "Kr",
+    "Rb",
+    "Sr",
+    "Y",
+    "Zr",
+    "Nb",
+    "Mo",
+    "Tc",
+    "Ru",
+    "Rh",
+    "Pd",
+    "Ag",
+    "Cd",
+    "In",
+    "Sn",
+    "Sb",
+    "Te",
+    "I",
+    "Xe",
+    "Cs",
+    "Ba",
+    "La",
+    "Ce",
+    "Pr",
+    "Nd",
+    "Pm",
+    "Sm",
+    "Eu",
+    "Gd",
+    "Tb",
+    "Dy",
+    "Ho",
+    "Er",
+    "Tm",
+    "Yb",
+    "Lu",
+    "Hf",
+    "Ta",
+    "W",
+    "Re",
+    "Os",
+    "Ir",
+    "Pt",
+    "Au",
+    "Hg",
+    "Tl",
+    "Pb",
+    "Bi",
+    "Po",
+    "At",
+    "Rn",
+    "Fr",
+    "Ra",
+    "Ac",
+    "Th",
+    "Pa",
+    "U",
+    "Np",
+    "Pu",
+    "Am",
+    "Cm",
+    "Bk",
+    "Cf",
+    "Es",
+    "Fm",
+    "Md",
+    "No",
+    "Lr",
+    "Rf",
+    "Db",
+    "Sg",
+    "Bh",
+    "Hs",
+    "Mt",
+    "Ds",
+    "Rg",
+    "Cn",
+    "Nh",
+    "Fl",
+    "Mc",
+    "Lv",
+    "Ts",
+    "Og",
+]
+
+chemical_symbols_to_atomic_numbers_dict = {
+    symbol: Z for Z, symbol in enumerate(chemical_symbols)
+}
diff --git a/nequip/nn/pair_potential.py b/nequip/nn/pair_potential.py
index 5704b379..608f7df6 100644
--- a/nequip/nn/pair_potential.py
+++ b/nequip/nn/pair_potential.py
@@ -4,9 +4,8 @@
 
 from e3nn.util.jit import compile_mode
 
-import ase.data
-
 from nequip.data import AtomicDataDict
+from nequip.data.misc import chemical_symbols_to_atomic_numbers_dict
 from ._util import scatter
 from ._graph_mixin import GraphModuleMixin
 from nequip.utils import conditional_torchscript_jit
@@ -269,7 +268,7 @@ def __init__(
         )
         assert len(chemical_species) == num_types
         atomic_numbers: List[int] = [
-            ase.data.atomic_numbers[chemical_species[type_i]]
+            chemical_symbols_to_atomic_numbers_dict[chemical_species[type_i]]
             for type_i in range(num_types)
         ]
         if min(atomic_numbers) < 1: