The U.K. has announced £40 million in funding to develop the next generation of nuclear energy technology, with £30 million of the total going to support three small modular reactor (SMR) projects. The government said the £30 million will speed up the development of three small module reactor projects in the U.K. and “drive them closer towards supplying low-carbon energy to the nation.” The remaining £10 million will be invested in smaller research, design, and manufacturing projects.
The government said the funding will ensure that SMR technology is more attractive to private sector investors, “supercharging” the development of the industry and creating supply chains for future SMR developments. The successful SMR projects, awarded £10 million funding each, are Tokamak Energy in Oxfordshire; Westinghouse in Lancashire and U-Battery in Cheshire.
Tokamak Energy is developing a compact spherical tokamak, called the ST40, the only project working on nuclear fusion. Westinghouse is developing a lead-cooled fast fission reactor, and U-Battery is working on a small high-temperature gas-cooled fission reactor.
