Institution makes key recommendations in Environmental Audit Committee’s consultation on small modular reactors

Last week, UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee warned of a lack of clarity on government’s plans around the role of small modular reactors (SMRs) in Great Britain’s energy mix, following written and oral evidence from the IMechE.

In 2021, UK government pledged to decarbonise Britain’s electricity system by 2035. They claim that this will be supported by up to 24GW of nuclear generating capacity, from a variety of technologies.

One such family of technologies is small modular reactors, nuclear fission reactors with a generating capacity of up to 300MW that are designed to be assembled in factories and transported to a site for installation. SMRs, in theory, should be quicker to deploy than larger reactors, be more flexible in terms of siting, and, as they are based on existing nuclear technologies, have well understood risks.

The potential of SMRs has been reflected in Great British Nuclear’s (GBN) SMR competition, which aims to identify at least one SMR supplier for the UK and is scheduled to reach a final investment decision by 2029.

Despite the GBN competition, many in the nuclear sector remain unclear on the government’s plans surrounding SMRs, with little reassurance provided on their contribution to the UK’s energy mix in the recently published ‘Civil Nuclear: Roadmap to 2050’.

This lack of direction was reflected in the Institution’s written response to the House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee’s (EAC) recent consultation on SMRs, which made the following key points:

• A UK SMR roadmap is essential to provide confidence to private players to invest in UK SMR projects, the implementation of which requires strong cross-Whitehall collaboration and can lead to secure and resilient decarbonisation in sectors where emissions are hard to abate.
• An SMR plan that commits to deployment at scale of this technology could lead to huge employment opportunities across the UK, which must be anticipated and planned for with relevant reskilling programmes.
• An SMR programme, if carefully implemented, could lead to huge export opportunities across technology and skills for the UK.
• As the benefits of SMRs rely on their ability to rapidly scale, if the government is to commit to an SMR roll-out, this must follow this principle and include a multi-site programme.
• The fact that SMR technologies included in the competition are widely proven and accepted negates the requirement for prototypes as these would lead to delays in roll-out.

The strength of the IMechE’s response, written in consultation with the Nuclear Power Committee, resulted in the Institution’s Head of Policy, Matt Rooney, being invited to give oral evidence to the committee in Parliament.

These actions have led the EAC to publish a letter to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, highlighting many of the IMechE’s concerns.

The EAC have requested a response to their letter by no later than the 21 March, which the IMechE hopes that this will lead to a clear government plan for SMR deployment. Once such a plan arrives, the IMechE urges government to continue to work with the Institution, alongside industry partners, to successfully implement this to realise the full potential of this exciting technology.

View the IMechE’s response.

View the EAC’s letter to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

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