Source · Select Committees · Science, Innovation and Technology Committee
Recommendation 25
25
Accepted
UK is a global leader in nuclear fuel with potential to replace Russia's supply.
Conclusion
The UK is a leading global player in uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel fabrication and has the potential to replace Russia’s contribution to the global supply chain of advanced fuels. We welcome the launch and allocation of funding from the Nuclear Fuel Fund to support the development of the capabilities needed to meet current and future nuclear fuel demands. (Paragraph 128) Delivering nuclear power 103 Fusion
Government Response Summary
The government reinforced its commitment to a secure nuclear fuel supply, outlining existing capabilities and its strategy to diversify global supply away from Russia through international agreements. It specified over £35 million has already been invested through the Nuclear Fuel Fund, including £10.5 million for high-assay low enriched uranium (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. We also recognise the strategic imperative to support our partners to diversify away from 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.