The government has unveiled a roadmap, setting out how the UK will reach 24GW of nuclear generation by the middle of the century.
Through the Civil Nuclear Roadmap, the government wants to give the industry certainty of where the UK’s nuclear programme will be going in the future. Key plans include securing 3-7GW of investment decisions every five years between 2030 and 2044 on new nuclear projects and exploring a GW-scale power plant as big as Sizewell or Hinkley.
It also highlighted how it is investing £300mn in production of a fuel needed to power high-tech new nuclear reactors. This is currently only produced on a commercial scale in Russia.
As the first country in Europe to launch a HALEU programme, the UK is aiming to grow from a production hub in the North West – set to become operational by early next decade – to eventually provide the world with it. It will also invest £10mn to develop both the skills and sites required to produce other advanced fuels in the UK. This will secure long-term domestic nuclear fuel supply and also help to support the UK’s allies.
A lot of the focus through the plans are to streamline the development of new power stations and introducing smarter regulation to speed up the overall process. This would involve having regulators assess projects while designs are being finalised and better coordination with overseas regulators assessing the same technology.
