U-Battery highlighted in Nuclear Engineering International
01 December 2020
The December issue of Nuclear Engineering International shines a spotlight on U-Battery in an article about the UK Government's recent Green Industrial Revolution announcement.
The feature 'UK plan supports advanced reactors' details the £12bn Ten Point Plan for realising net zero targets by 2050, highlighting the funding which will progress advanced nuclear technologies:
- Up to £385 million in an Advanced Nuclear Fund
- Up to £170 million for an R&D programme on advanced modular reactors
- An additional £40 million to develop the regulatory frameworks and support UK supply chains for new reactor designs
Steve Threlfall, General Manager of U-Battery, is quoted as saying: "Our AMR can make a significant contribution to decarbonising sectors which it is difficult to assist by other means, such as the UK’s Foundation Industries. Being developed in the North of England in Cheshire, it is also a highly versatile technology that can be deployed for other beneficial uses, such as the production of hydrogen through the copper chlorine process."
Earlier this year U-Battery was one of three advanced reactor designs selected to receive almost £10 million in funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) competition, progressing to Phase 2.
In Phase 1 of the competition U-Battery conducted a feasibility study that made the business, economic and technical case for the deployment of the reactor. The study also demonstrated how U-Battery could support the decarbonisation of several of the UK’s critical and strategic heavy and energy intensive industries, including the paper, glass, steel, ceramics, minerals and chemicals sectors.
Read Nuclear Engineering International's article in full
About U-Battery
U-Battery is an advanced/small modular reactor, capable of providing a low-carbon, cost-effective, locally embedded and reliable source of power and heat for energy intensive industry and remote locations. It is being developed by Urenco in collaboration with a number of supporting organisations and has received funding from the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's Energy Innovation Portfolio.