Statement on civil nuclear fuel use
Published 4 February 2026
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The UK has a long and proud history of nuclear power, beginning with the world’s very first civil nuclear power plant in 1956. Now, nuclear power underpins our grid with clean, secure, always-on electricity, and the deployment of new nuclear capacity is central to the Government’s ambition to become a clean energy superpower and to meet our net zero commitments.
Today the Government is setting out its guiding principles for nuclear fuel supply which will be utilised in the next generation of nuclear reactors. This will provide industry with the certainty needed to plan effectively, avoid deployment delays, and support the development of a secure and sustainable nuclear sector.
Published alongside the Advanced Nuclear Framework, this statement will help operators make long-term plans for their fuel provisions that meet Government expectations. This clear statement on nuclear fuel usage in the UK will support our flourishing nuclear fuel service industries in making long-term investment to support the UK’s energy security and growth ambitions.
Uranium focus: providing clarity for our future nuclear fleet
We recognise the importance of a clear strategy which ensures confidence for industry and enables long-term planning and investment.
We want to build on the UK’s long history of success across the full uranium fuel cycle, providing focus for the nuclear industry towards the nuclear fuel cycles which are best prepared to make an impact towards the UK’s Clean Energy Mission. In support of our commitment to see the highest standards of nuclear security, we will ensure all civil nuclear fission reactors in the UK are fuelled by uranium, enriched to less than 20% U-235.
This announcement also provides a clear response to the recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce by offering clarity for industry, helping to focus investment and skills for the next generation of nuclear energy in the UK. The UK Government is committed to keeping this policy under review to ensure it reflects the latest evidence.
Effective decommissioning and waste management
The Government remains committed to ensuring the responsible treatment, storage and disposal of any associated wastes and nuclear materials. The complexity of subsequent decommissioning and waste management challenges should be minimised, including avoiding the creation of unplanned or problematic wastes that do not have understood treatment, packaging, storage or disposal routes and require resolution from future generations.
Many advanced reactor designs have developed or are proposing new fuels, coolants and reactor materials that could deliver new and improved functionality, but that could also create novel waste streams.
All reactor technologies deployed in the UK should be consistent with the Policy Framework for Managing Radioactive Substances and Nuclear Decommissioning [footnote 1]. This includes the requirement for new nuclear facilities to be designed, built and operated with decommissioning in mind.
As such, we will be taking steps to ensure all reactor proposals demonstrate a viable waste management route through to disposal for all their spent fuels and waste arisings before the deployment of any new technology. This includes funding their own R&D to underpin disposal, planning and allocating funding for all necessary pre-disposal waste management infrastructure and/or through co-funded development of waste solutions led by another country’s government, in a timeframe compatible with the UK’s Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) development.
Guiding principles for fuel supply
The Government already works closely with the nuclear fuel industry to maintain a secure supply of nuclear fuel for the UK fleet. To give the market additional clarity, we are setting out here the principles that the Government expects industry to adhere to. These principles will form the basis of fuel supply chain assessment criteria for any projects seeking Government support and further guidance will be provided as part of any future application process.
- Reactors must only be fuelled with uranium, enriched to less than 20% U-235.
- All reactor fuels, coolants and reactor materials need to be managed effectively through their full lifecycle, including compatibility with the UK’s solution for long-term disposal via a GDF.
- Operators should have a demonstrably diverse and reliable fuel supply which prioritises sourcing from secure allied countries and avoids those subject to UK sanctions.
Operators must have plans to enable assessment of the security of their fuel supply for their reactors and appropriately escalate issues that could have an impact on UK energy security. The UK Government may reach out to operators for relevant information to effectively assess and monitor emerging energy security issues and we expect operators to engage in good faith with reasonable requests.
Enabling policy and implementation
Today the UK’s nuclear fuel sector continues to flourish, supplying services to a global market and enabling around 96,000 high quality British jobs across the entire civil and defence nuclear sectors [footnote 2]. The following sections set out the enabling policy designed to support the continued growth and resilience of the UK’s nuclear fuel supply chain.
Delivering the HALEU Programme
The Government is supporting the industry to capitalise on the future of nuclear, investing up to £300m to establish a UK High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) supply chain, to help fuel the next-generation Advanced Modular Reactors and provide a commercial supply for anywhere in the Western world from 2031. Currently the only commercial supply of this fuel exists from Russia.
In May 2024, the Government awarded the first tranche of HALEU funding, allocating £196 million to Urenco to deliver a first-of-a-kind commercial-scale HALEU enrichment capability at Capenhurst, with commercial operations targeted for 2031. With co-funding from Urenco, the total investment for this element is approximately £400 million. This investment is expected to support up to 400 jobs during peak construction and provide around 130 long-term roles once operational.
Further funding has been allocated to support the HALEU supply chain through awards to Nuclear Transport Solutions on transportation prototypes (including testing and development of pilot transport packages for safely and securely moving HALEU), the regulators and our United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory building the UK’s technical capabilities. This programme will support building resilient nuclear supply chains, free from political interference and reduce global reliance on Russia.
Bringing forward the ban on Russian uranium
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine emphasised the need to end our reliance on unstable supply chains controlled by petrostates and dictators. In 2023 in Sapporo, Japan, the 5 nuclear nations of the G7 formed a group (‘the Sapporo 5’) with the aim to reduce global dependency on Russian nuclear fuel supply.
Since 2023, the UK has been working diligently with this group to boost supply security and resilience through supply coordination, international collaboration and investment, reducing the risk of political leverage over nuclear energy security.
In 2024, the UK made a commitment to end the use of Russian uranium in all UK reactors by 2030. Building on our Sapporo 5 contributions, on the 15th September 2025, we made our commitment on Russian uranium even stronger and brought this commitment forward by two years – to 2028.
As well as boosting our own supply resilience, we are keen that UK capabilities, like UK HALEU, support our allies in diversifying their own nuclear fuel supply chains. By removing any remaining sources of Russian uranium by the end of 2028, we are preventing any new dependencies from being established, and we are ensuring that our nuclear fuel supply chains remain secure and free from political leverage.