27 Mar (NucNet): Nuclear energy could contribute roughly 40 to 50 percent of the UK’s energy mix by 2050 compared with nearly 20 percent today, according to one scenario outlined in a report on the future of the country’s nuclear industry.
The UK government yesterday published the report setting out its vision for the country’s nuclear industry and identifying the domestic new build and wider nuclear market as an essential platform to boost Britain's nuclear commercial base and increase global market share.
The report outlines an industrial strategy to make UK “a leading civil nuclear energy nation” and says a new build programme alone could generate up to 40,000 new jobs.
The report covers the whole of the nuclear market – new build, waste management and decommissioning, fuel cycle services, operations and maintenance.
It says the government will provide 15 million pounds (GBP) (22 million US dollars, 17 million euro) for a new facility for universities and companies carrying out research into nuclear technology. The facility will have centres at the National Nuclear Laboratory at Sellafield, the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire and the University of Manchester’s Dalton Cumbrian Facility.
The report says the UK will spend GBP 12.5 million to join the Jules Horowitz test reactor programme which is being constructed in France. The reactor will provide the UK with “a valuable radiation testing facility to develop future advance nuclear fuels”.
In 2011, the government spent GBP 66 million on nuclear research and development and “will keep under review its level of future expenditure”.
The report says the government is keen to explore opportunities to back future reactor designs, including the feasibility of launching a small modular reactor (SMR) R&D programme to ensure that the UK is a key partner of any new reactor design for the global market.
The report is online:
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-innovation-skills/series/nuclear-industrial-strategy
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