UK government nuclear funding targets small modular reactors
In an effort to drive economic growth, create new jobs and support its ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 the UK government has announced £40m of funding to develop next generation nuclear energy technology.
Three quarters of the funding is targeted at three separate advanced modular reactor projects (AMRs) which are exploring the development of smaller power station reactors that can be built in a factory environments and transported to remote locations.
These include fusion reactor technology under development by Oxfordshire firm Tokamak Energy; the development of a lead-cooled fast reactors (a type of fission reactor) by Westinghouse in Lancashire; and U-Battery’s small high temperature gas-cooled fission reactor.
The remaining £10m will be invested into unlocking smaller research, design, and manufacturing projects to create up to 200 jobs.
These projects include an offsite modular reactor construction demonstrator being developed by U-Battery; Babcock’s AWESIM nuclear manufacturing project; and an £8m initiative at Sheffield Forgemasters looking at large scale section electron beam welding. The remaining £5m will be put to strengthening the UK’s nuclear regulatory regime, ensuring it remains one of the most robust and safest in the world as the UK looks to develop and deploy advanced nuclear technologies.
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