Government unveils £75m nuclear fund to secure fuel production for new reactors
Downing Street has unveiled a £75m strategy to boost investment into the production of fuel for nuclear reactors.
The Nuclear Fuel Fund will award grants to projects that can increase the UK’s domestic nuclear fuel sector, reducing the need for foreign imports and creating the material used in nuclear power stations to generate electricity.
The government backing will encourage private sector co-investment into the projects and ensure the UK builds on its legacy of nuclear fuel innovation and production.
Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “We’ve got big plans to boost British nuclear power, so it makes perfect sense to ensure we have a strong, resilient, domestic fuel supply chain to match. This funding will kickstart projects in the UK and generate private investment in facilities that will fuel the nuclear reactors of today and tomorrow, shoring up our energy security while creating jobs.”
The Government is now asking parties to register their interest in bidding for funding and inviting further information on the sector’s investment needs.
It is also encouraging nuclear stakeholders who are not planning on bidding for the fund to provide information from their experience that will help to mature fund design ahead of opening the bid window in Autumn 2022.
The announcement follows the British Energy Security Strategy earlier this year, where the Government pledge to approve up to eight new reactors by 2030, including taking one project to full investment decision (FID) this Parliament and two projects to FID in the next Parliament.