U-Battery selected for advanced modular reactor funding

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U-Battery has been selected by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to further progress the design and development of advanced modular reactors.

U-Battery team in Capenhurst
U-Battery team in Capenhurst - U-Battery

The award, part of the Advanced Modular Reactor Research, Development & Demonstration (AMR RD&D) Programme, will increase understanding of the potential size, type, cost, and delivery method of a U-Battery through a ‘pre-front-end engineering design’ study over a six-month period to January 2023.

In a statement, Steve Threlfall, U-Battery general manager, said: “We will continue to work closely with BEIS towards delivering a first-of-a-kind reactor in the UK in the late 2020s, in good time to make a real difference to achieving net zero by 2050 targets and helping to ensure the health and sustainability of global communities.”  

U-Battery’s AMR (10MWt/4Mwe) is a high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) which creates heat that can help to decarbonise industries including metals, ceramics, glass, chemicals, paper and cement as well as produce hydrogen and synthetic fuels. The company said its U-Battery is powered by accident tolerant TRISO fuel, which prevents the release of radioactive material and minimises the need for back-up shutdown systems.

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The funding is part of the £385m Advanced Nuclear Fund, which is aligned BEIS’ £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP), which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of clean energy technologies and processes through the 2020s and 2030s.

U-Battery has successfully participated in Phases 1 and 2 of BEIS’s AMR competition to create a feasibility study and initiate design and development work, as well as the department’s ‘Call for Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Phase 2B’ under which a full-scale mock-up was created of the main vessels of the reactor.

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation UK Ltd has also been selected for funding and is to receive £498,312 for a project that will build on USNC’s current micro modular reactor (MMR) design as a foundation to develop and demonstrate a modified MMR+ design best suited to current and projected future process heat demands in industry.

How far ahead do you think the UK is in regards to advanced modular reactors? Let us know in Comments below.

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