The government’s high profile small nuclear reactor R&D programme received a boost today, as the Energy Technology Institute (ETI) unveiled plans for a major new research project to identify the initial steps needed to build pioneering new nuclear technologies in the UK. The government and industry-backed ETI announced it has appointed engineering and management consultancy Decision Analysis Services (DAS) to deliver its £300,000, six-month Small Modular Reactor Deployment Enablers project. The initiative follows a previous ETI project to assess the broad issues and timescales that would need to be addressed to begin a UK small modular reactor (SMR) fleet deployment from 2030 onwards. ETI said the project confirmed there were “still many uncertainties around SMR development in the UK but that progress needs to made across a number of areas from 2016 onwards if the option to include them in the UK’s future energy mix is to be kept open”.
Business Green 24th Feb 2016 read more »