BEIS is to invest up to £44 million in the Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) Feasibility and Development (F&D) project. In this context Advanced Modular Reactor (AMRs) are defined as a broad group of advanced nuclear reactors. AMRs differ from conventional reactors, which use pressurised or boiling water for primary cooling. They aim to maximise the amount of off-site factory fabrication and can target:
- generating low cost electricity
- increased flexibility in delivering electricity to the grid
- increased functionality, such as the provision of heat output for domestic or industrial purposes, or facilitating the production of hydrogen
- alternative applications that may generate additional revenue or economic growth
This project has 2 phases:
- phase 1: funding (up to £4 million, excluding VAT) to undertake a series of feasibility studies for AMR designs. Contracts are worth up to £300,000 (excluding VAT)
- phase 2: subject to phase 1 demonstrating clear value for money and government approval, a share of up to £40 million (excluding VAT) could be available for selected projects from phase 1 to undertake development activities. Up to a further £5 million may also be made available to regulators to support this
The following 8 organisations have been awarded contracts to produce feasibility studies as part of phase 1 of the AMR F&D project:
- Advanced Reactor Concepts LLC
- DBD Limited
- Blykalla Reaktorer Stockholm AB (LeadCold)
- Moltex Energy Limited
- Tokamak Energy Ltd
- U-Battery Developments Ltd
- Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation
- Westinghouse Electric Company UK
As part of their application, each organisation supplied an abstract summarising their proposal. The claims and opinions expressed in the abstracts are those of the applicant organisation and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BEIS.
Follow this news feed: DEFRA