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This is not a post about politics.
But something that has been almost missed in the Budget was mention of a new round of government "investment" in Small Modular Reactors as part of it's target of getting 24GW of nuclear generation on the grid by 2050. Can't find much detail now, but it seems that Government has also recently acquired the land of the closed nuclear plants at Wylfa and Oldbury. Worth keeping an eye on. I remain massively skeptical about SMRs.

Hi Dan, since the US Nu-Scale SMR's doubled their projected cost of generation and had a contract cancelled, I'm also less and less optimistic about them, and I wasn't very positive from the start.

Funny you mentioning the Wylfa and Olbury sites, I'd recently thought that they may be being earmarked for storage locations, as per the article below. But now I re-read it, I'm not so sure anymore, but it is being mentioned within an article about large scale storage deployment ..... hence my confusion, not sure how to read it now, any thoughts?

UK’s green power industry receives surprise £10bn pledge

Britain’s under-pressure green power industry has received a surprise fillip after a renewables developer pledged to plough £10bn into what would become the largest portfolio of battery storage projects in the country.

NatPower, a UK startup that is part of a larger European energy group, is poised to submit planning applications for three “gigaparks”, with a further 10 to follow next year.

Battery storage projects are seen as a key part of the jigsaw to decarbonise Britain’s power grid, allowing electricity generated by wind turbines and solar panels to be stored for use when weather conditions are still or not sunny.

The NatPower investment would lead to the construction of 60 gigawatt hours of battery storage, with solar and wind projects also in the pipeline.

Hunt also said £160m would be paid to Japan’s Hitachi for two sites earmarked for nuclear power stations – the Wylfa facility on the island of Anglesey or Ynys Môn in north Wales, and the Oldbury site on the banks of the river Severn in South Gloucestershire.

As ever with all things nuclear, it all seems rather opaque.

dan_b wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 10:27 am As ever with all things nuclear, it all seems rather opaque.

As usual you are being very polite and professional, I'd suggest 'clear as mud'.

They can’t explain something that they don’t understand themselves!

Wylfa and Oldbury are strategic sites for large scale power stations, Wylfa particularly is the most geologically stable site in the UK and as such could remain in private hands of a company unwilling to invest in the necessary infrastructure.

Trawsfyndd is earmarked for SMR siting as it is ideal for SMR siting. I would say that if anyone can make SMRs work it will be RollsRoyce as they have the proven track record in small reactor manufacturing and operation for decades, they just need to close the loop on the coolant circuits and civilionise the system technology, all at a commercially viable price point.

I’m still not a fan of a reactor type that requires highly enriched fuel sources but I assume that risk element is also being considered and addressed by the regulator and the constabulary.

Moxi