Policy paper

Advanced Nuclear Technologies

Updated 11 May 2021

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Advanced Nuclear Technologies have an important role to play in the transition to a low carbon economy. In the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, and reiterated in the 2020 Energy White Paper, the government confirmed its commitment to developing large, small, and advanced nuclear projects.

The Ten Point Plan announced the Advanced Nuclear Fund of up to £385 million to invest in the next generation of nuclear. This includes up to £215 million for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to develop a domestic smaller-scale power plant technology design, and up to £170 million for a research and development programme to deliver an Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) demonstrator by the early 2030s.

An additional up to £40 million will be invested in developing the regulatory frameworks and supporting UK supply chains to help bring these technologies to market.

What are Advanced Nuclear Technologies?

Advanced Nuclear Technologies encompass a wide range of nuclear reactor technologies under development. The technologies share common attributes:

  • smaller than conventional nuclear power station reactors
  • designed so that much of the plant can be fabricated in a factory environment and transported to site, reducing construction risk and making them less capital-intensive

Generally advanced nuclear technologies fall into one of 2 groups:

  • Generation III water-cooled Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), similar to existing nuclear power station reactors but on a smaller scale
  • Generation IV and beyond Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs), which use novel cooling systems or fuels to offer new functionality (such as industrial process heat) and potentially a step change reduction in costs

Latest news

May 2021: opening the Generic Design Assessment to Advanced Nuclear Technologies

As announced in the Energy White Paper, the UK government is opening the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) to Advanced Nuclear Technologies, unlocking a key step on the path to the deployment of advanced nuclear in the UK.

Read the full Entry Guidance and details on how to submit a GDA Entry application.

Small Modular Reactors

The UK government believes that Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) could play an important role alongside large nuclear as a low-carbon energy source to support a secure, affordable decarbonised energy system. SMRs are smaller in size and could use modular, off-site manufacturing for flexible deployment. They have the potential to provide low-cost, low carbon electricity.

The Ten Point Plan and the Energy White Paper announced Government’s intention to deploy a First-of-a-Kind SMR by the early 2030s, with up to £215m committed through the Advanced Nuclear Fund.

Government have announced an additional up to £40m in developing regulatory frameworks and supporting UK supply chains and will continue to progress work on key policy and market enablers, including finalising regulatory access, siting, and financing for SMRs.

The Low-Cost Nuclear Challenge

The Low-Cost Nuclear Challenge, proposed by a consortium led by Rolls-Royce, aims to develop a Small Modular Reactor designed and manufactured in the UK capable of producing cost effective electricity. An initial £36 million joint public and private investment granted in late 2019 has enabled the consortium to further develop their design.

The consortium believes that a UK Small Modular Reactor programme can support up to 40,000 jobs at its peak with each Small Modular Reactor capable of powering 450,000 homes.

For further information visit UKRI Low-Cost Nuclear Challenge.

Advanced Modular Reactors

The government refers to Generation IV reactors as Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs). They use novel and innovative fuels, coolants, and technologies to generate low-carbon electricity, and take advantage of the same modular-build principles as SMRs.

There are a wide range of new reactor technologies under development in a diverse advanced nuclear market across many nations. Many designs have the potential for a range of applications beyond low-carbon electricity generation, including:

  • flexible, load-following electricity generation
  • production of hydrogen
  • direct heat for industrial or domestic use
  • nuclear waste management solutions

The Ten Point Plan announced government’s intention to invest up to £170m through the Advanced Nuclear Fund to support an AMR demonstration reactor by the early 2030s.

This builds on the previous Advanced Nuclear research funded through the BEIS’s Nuclear Innovation Programme, including:

The 2020 Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board Annual Report

The Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board (NIRAB) was convened by government to provide advice on nuclear research and innovation in the UK. Their 2020 Annual Report made several recommendations on how the government could support the deployment of Advanced Nuclear Technologies.

UK R&D and Supply Chain Capability for Advanced Modular Reactors

Government have commissioned and published a landscape report on the UK’s R&D and Supply Chain capabilities to support AMR technologies, from the National Nuclear Laboratory. This report outlines the AMR market opportunities and actions that could be taken by government and the nuclear sector to support the domestic development and deployment of AMR technologies.

Read the full report.

Regulation

The UK has one of the safest and most robust nuclear regulatory regimes in the world, and all nuclear operators are answerable to our independent regulators – the Office for Nuclear Regulation, and the national environmental regulators such as the Environment Agency.

As announced in the Clean Growth Strategy, the government provided up to £12 million to the nuclear regulators to build the capability and capacity needed to support and assess Advanced Nuclear Technologies.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and Environment Agency published their guidance on the Modernised Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process in October 2019:

In May 2021, the UK government declared the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) open to Advanced Nuclear Technologies and published new Guidance for Entering GDA.

The Generic Design Assessment allows the UK’s independent nuclear regulators to assess the safety, security, and environmental implications of new reactor designs and to provide the confidence that these new designs are capable of meeting the UK’s statutory regulatory requirements.

The GDA Entry process is designed to be an open and ongoing invitation to apply, with decisions based on the readiness of the Requesting Party to complete the rigorous GDA process.

Apply for Entry to the Generic Design Assessment Process

Read the full guidance and details on how to submit a GDA Entry application.

International

International collaboration is a fundamental part of the Government’s policy to successfully realise the opportunities of Advanced Nuclear Technologies.

The UK is a founding member of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), created as a cooperative international endeavour seeking to coordinate research and development on fourth generation nuclear systems.

The UK is also a member of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), a global forum focused on the transition to global clean energy, and co-leads on the CEM Flexible Nuclear Campaign, which looks to understand and communicate the benefits of Advanced Nuclear reactors with highly-flexible power outputs.

Understanding public perception

Advanced Nuclear Technologies Public Dialogue

BEIS have commissioned a dialogue, co-funded by UK Research and Innovation’s Sciencewise Programme, to further understand public insights and expectations around the potential future siting and deployment of advanced nuclear technologies in the UK. Approximately 70 members of the public took part in six virtual dialogue workshops in early 2021. Further information on the project can be found on the Sciencewise website.

Outputs from the dialogue are expected later in 2021.

BEIS Public Attitudes Tracker

The BEIS Public Attitudes Tracker is a survey that collects data on public attitudes towards the department’s policy areas and runs 4 times a year. The survey includes an annual question on awareness of Small Modular Reactors: “Before today, how much, if anything, did you know about Small Modular Reactors?”.

Read the results from each wave. See Wave 35 for the data collected in November 2020 on the question above.

Contact us

smrteam@beis.gov.uk

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