Source · Select Committees · Science, Innovation and Technology Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Accepted
Paragraph: 89
UK nuclear fuel sector leads globally, with potential for increased enrichment and exports.
Conclusion
The UK is an international market leader in the manufacture of nuclear fuels and is uniquely positioned with the capability of delivering the entire nuclear fuel cycle. The nuclear fuel sector in the UK has the potential to increase enrichment capacity, which can provide security for domestic nuclear fuel supply chain and further export opportunities.
Government Response Summary
The government highlighted commitments under the Sapporo Agreement and US-UK Atlantic Declaration to diversify fuel supply away from Russia, and detailed over £35 million invested via the Nuclear Fuel Fund, including £10.5 million for a HALEU supply chain.
Paragraph Reference:
89
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
A secure and resilient supply of nuclear fuel is a vital enabler of our ambitions to deploy civil nuclear power in the UK and is therefore essential to our energy security. The UK has many decades of experience in the nuclear fuel supply chain, carrying out enrichment at Capenhurst and manufacture of fuel at Springfields. However, we recognise that significant investment will be required to support the sector to develop and produce fuel for new reactor designs, across GW reactors, SMRs and AMRs. Russian fuel, and to ensure that we do not ourselves become dependent on Russian fuel in the future. We have therefore committed to working with our close partners to support the diversification of global fuel supply away from Russia, as outlined in the Sapporo Agreement, which was reached at the Nuclear Energy Forum in April this year. In the recent US-UK Atlantic Declaration, we also committed to support the development of full front-end fuel cycle capabilities in both continents by 2030 to substantially minimise global reliance on Russian fuel, supplies and services. Through the Nuclear Fuel Fund, we have already invested over £35 million, match funded by industry, to strengthen our domestic fuel production capability and deliver on these commitments. This includes over £10.5m to develop a supply chain for high-assay low enriched uranium (‘HALEU’) in the UK, which will be essential to ensure the UK can produce the advanced fuels of the future.