£70m for engineers to design and build advanced nuclear fuel plants

THE UK government is offering £70m (US$90m) for engineers to design and build plants needed to manufacture advanced nuclear fuels for the country’s next generation of nuclear reactors.

The funding is part of a £300m scheme to establish production in the UK of so-called high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). While most reactors in use today use fuel enriched to 2-5%, producing HALEU fuel enriched to 5–20% will allow for smaller reactors, longer operating cycles, and the production of less radioactive waste.

With only Russia and China currently producing HALEU at scale, the UK is keen to develop its own capabilities to shore up energy security and fuel smaller novel nuclear reactors that are expected to play a key role in expanding the country’s production of cleaner energy.

A competition has now opened for engineering firms to design and build deconversion plants that will convert enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into oxide and metal forms so it can be fabricated into HALEU fuel.

The first objective of the funding scheme is to find an industrial partner to design and build a commercial-scale oxide deconversion facility that would be operational by 2031. It would need to process at least 10,000 kg of uranium and be designed to expand to at least 30,000 kg. The plant would also need to allow the installation of metal deconversion line. Applicants must also include a detailed plan for how deconverted HALEU in both oxide and metal forms would be packaged and stored.

The second objective is for engineers to provide a detailed design for a commercial-scale metal HALEU deconversion facility, with a minimum capacity of 5,000 kg per year. The government says applications will be assessed on how far along the design process they will be able to progress, with additional scoring awarded to any bids that are able to go beyond detailed design. Applicants must reach at least detailed design, with the appropriate associated hazard and operability analysis (HAZOP) and safety case documentation.

Applicants have until 5 September to express their interest.