The UK Government has unveiled a roadmap to increase nuclear generating capacity fourfold in the country, attaining 24 GW of nuclear capacity by 2050, which would represent about 25% of the country's projected electricity demand. The new Civil Nuclear Roadmap outlines plans for the largest expansion of nuclear power in the UK in 70 years, and plans to reduce electricity bills, support job creation and improve the country’s energy security.
The plan notably includes the building of a major new power plant, the development of small modular reactors (SMRs) and investment in advanced nuclear fuel production. The new proposed power plant would be of a size equivalent to the 3.2 GW Sizewell C nuclear plant, currently under development. As for fuel, the government will invest up to GBP300m (€349m) in UK production of the fuel required to power high-tech new nuclear reactors, known as HALEU. The roadmap also includes a government ambition to secure 3 to 7 GW worth of investment decisions every five years from 2030 to 2044 on new nuclear projects.
As of end-2022, nuclear represented 15% of the UK power mix.
Interested in Global Energy Research?
Enerdata's premium online information service provides up-to-date market reports on 110+ countries. The reports include valuable market data and analysis as well as a daily newsfeed, curated by our energy analysts, on the oil, gas, coal and power markets.
This user-friendly tool gives you the essentials about the domestic markets of your concern, including market structure, organisation, actors, projects and business perspectives.