Source · Select Committees · Science, Innovation and Technology Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Accepted
Publish a detailed Nuclear Strategic Plan to expand nuclear fuel manufacturing capacity and secure supply.
Recommendation
By publishing a detailed Nuclear Strategic Plan, as we recommend, which includes the types and number of reactors to be built in the UK, the Government should provide a signal to the nuclear fuel industry to step up and increased its end-to-end fuel manufacturing capacity. The Government should set out in the Nuclear Strategic Plan how it will capitalise on the strengths of the UK’s nuclear fuel supply chain to secure a resilient supply of nuclear fuel for any new planned reactors and develop further export opportunities. (Paragraph 90) Advanced nuclear technologies
Government Response Summary
The government highlights existing efforts to secure a resilient nuclear fuel supply, including committing to diversify global fuel supply away from Russia and already investing over £35 million through the Nuclear Fuel Fund, with £10.5 million specifically for HALEU development.
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.