Nuclear start-up Newcleo submits first reactor design for a decade
UK nuclear start-up Newcleo has pitched a lead-cooled reactor design to the UK government, the first of its kind for a decade.
The company today said that it has submitted an application for justification for a Lead Fast Reactor, the LFR-AS-200.
The process requires developers like Newcleo to show the government that the benefits of green-lighting the technology must significantly outweigh any potential safety risks from the reactor.
LFRs are fast spectrum reactors cooled by molten lead (or lead-based alloys) operating at high temperatures and at near atmospheric pressure.
It can achieve these conditions because of lead’s very high boiling point, around 1743°C, and its low vapour pressure.
Newcleo said that its application is the first of an advanced nuclear technology in the UK and is now being considered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
A justification decision is one of the required steps for the operation of a new nuclear technology in the UK, but it is not a permit or licence that allows a specific project to go ahead.
Instead, it is a generic decision as a pre-cursor to future regulatory processes.
Stefano Buono, chief executive officer of Newcleo, said the submission marked an “important milestone” in the firm’s development programme.
“We’re of course delighted to be the first ever Advanced Technology to be submitted to the justification process and the first reactor design to be considered since the last wave of large-scale designs, almost a decade ago.
“We are but one player in the new nuclear renaissance and we look forward to working with government and the rest of the sector to develop the robust supply chain that can deliver the UK’s ambition of 24GW of nuclear power by 2050.”
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, added that the submission marked an “opportunity for the UK government to demonstrate that it backs advanced nuclear technologies to support a robust clean power mix and to reinvigorate the UK’s proud tradition of nuclear innovation.”
Newcleo has been one of the shining stars of the UK nuclear industry, and aims to raise some £857m from investors this year.
The tranche is part of an overall investment of at least £2.5bn that includes building a factory for “Mox” fuel, made from reprocessed uranium and plutonium and a large-scale commercial reactor that the company hopes will be operational by 2033.
The company had hoped to take advantage of the UK’s massive stockpile of waste at Sellafield, where it wanted to invest £2bn in a waste reprocessing factory and advanced modular reactors that would have created around 500 jobs.
However, in January, the company said it would be taking the project to France’s much more developed nuclear market following a wooing process from French leader Emmanuel Macron.
The UK meanwhile is struggling to kick its as yet un-built giant reactors Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C into gear, as both projects remain mired in construction and funding delays.