A Paradigm Shift in the Energy Market for New Nuclear Deployment

With energy security, the rising costs of energy and Net Zero at the forefront of all our minds, we must find ways of getting new forms of clean energy onto our system. All ideas should be embraced and supported if we are to achieve the scale of the task. In this article, I aim to show a different approach to deploying nuclear at pace, changing perspectives on how nuclear can be developed and the current opportunity, if we embrace the change.

UK Atomics has developed a new model scalable nuclear that delivers the lowest cost of energy at £20/MWh without the need for Government funds and based on a UK-Danish energy partnership.

Paradigm shifts

Today’s market is not tomorrow’s. We know and understand this. The question we must address is: what does that future market really look like? What if we don’t even realise a change is needed. I remember a friend once saying a phone is for talking, why would I want to email or watch films on it? We do not always recognise the need for change, a new shift, a new market, or a new paradigm.

In nuclear, we have a major challenge; how do we ensure energy security, achieve Net Zero and decarbonise the hardest to abate industries? We need a paradigm shift in developing nuclear technology if we are to succeed. We believe that UK Atomics has an offering that can rise to this challenge.

Paradigm shifts are nothing new and if we reflect on the past we can see this. IBM and Apple faced changes to the Graphical User Interface (GUI) interface and battled with personal computers in a market where a computer was the size of a house and only for large corporations. Henry Ford looked at cars, “you can buy any colour as long as it’s black” and it replaced the horse and cart. The Wright brothers invented flying aeroplanes when flight was just imagination. The iPhone disrupted the market replacing Nokia and changing how we all operate today with smartphones.

UK Atomics is the low cost, scalable and nontaxpayer funded option open to the UK. UK Atomics is developing a technology that is disruptive in the way we deploy nuclear, not just manufacturing in a factory, but moving to volume production. Our technology provides, not just low cost electricity, but the lowest cost of energy; and not just fission, but a waste burner that can consume spent fuel.

UK Atomics product-led approach

At UK Atomics we are changing the way we develop and deploy nuclear to market. We are heavily focused on developing the technology finding the fastest routes to commercialisation not just of a reactor and nuclear power plant but the end-to-end process. Every test, every measurement, the instrument used, the components developed, integrated systems and technology is commercialised. Our agile product development approach builds on collaboration.

Plans are underway for the company to carry out a criticality test by 2025 and we consider the UK a perfect location for a host site. In a recent live-streamed tour of UK Atomics’ facility, our Founder and Chairman Thomas Jam-Pedersen and I outlined how the company has moved to this technology readiness so quickly and the approach being taken a product led approach.

UK Atomics is following a product-led approach that forces us to consider the minimum viable route to commercialisation at every stage. Developing products with enough features for development enables UK Atomics to gain the support of earlyadopters, clients, investors and validates our products and reactors much earlier in the product development cycle through a series of tests and rapid interactions to build databases of knowledge.

Our view is that to enable a new technology and follow a path that nobody else has taken, it is best to build the industry, work in collaborative partnerships, share knowledge, experience and ultimately, develop. Our components, systems, and even test equipment is used by academia such as Leeds University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We are developing underpinning validation with Liverpool University, working with laboratories around the world such as Argonne National Lab in the US, and even other reactor vendors. The advantage this provides is pace of technological development and a community of knowledge not limited by resource constraints, or geography. To develop a new industry, we need to develop the players in the industry, so collaboration is vital and this collaborative approach builds the databases of knowledge faster than developing on our own.

We have been building industrial capability and capacity. These industrial collaborations have resulted in a portfolio of products that have already been commercialised, from Salts at one tonne per month now scaling to commercial plant production rates, to Molten Salt Loops for static and dynamic environments. World firsts with pumps, new instrumentation tested; control systems architecture validated and major components such as heat exchangers with key life testing.

The UK-Danish energy partnership

UK Atomics is building on the long-established and well-trusted UK-Danish energy partnership. By extending this into nuclear energy we can capitalise on existing experienced regulators; existing nuclear sites; and, an existing environment open to technology development. UK Atomics’ technology can expedite benefits to market at pace. Targeting £20/ MWh, UK Atomics can help to ensure that the UK has security of supply with the potential for commercial plants to be ready by 2028. If we reach this goal, it will help to position the UK to be a world-leader in nuclear science as well as in molten salts.

Converting nuclear liabilities into assets

The UK Atomics reactor resolves the disposition of the UK stockpile, turning 140 tonnes of liability into an asset, producing 30GWe for 50 years and generating a £780bn asset to the UK. Our approach enables industrial capabilities to mature alongside technology development.

We can remove the need for large complex infrastructure and simplify deployment by removing the need for Balance of Plant to be classified as nuclear and therefore reducing the nuclear site licence footprint and enabling power generators to collaborate by using the heat produced for industry or grid. We can even re-use existing infrastructure for old power stations.

Mass manufacture to achieve scale

UK Atomics uses 40ft iso container units with case integers of 100 MW thermal meaning that we can manufacture one reactor per day from the factory line. It is a deployment approach that scales using 25 units (reactors) per 1GWe power plant, that are not only factory made, but shipped direct to site and are ready to operate.

This means that nuclear power can move closer to volume production akin to the car industry resulting in the ability to deploy faster, and at pace. With £20/MWh and scalability, industry can not only decarbonise but re-onshore to the UK, providing new jobs and levelling up opportunities. It will potentially lead to companies investing in developing new technologies in the UK that might benefit from a very low cost of energy and helping British industry to end its reliance on fossil fuels.

Lessons from renewables

If we are to support product-led development and reach commercialisation at pace. We must provide the necessary environment to support and we can learn plenty from other industries such as wind or even our own industry. Learning opportunities on contract mechanisms to enable the market, building on Contract for Difference Auction rounds. Learning from existing regulatory processes within the ONR to support regulation alongside technology development through adoption of the ONR’s Innovation Process and applying it to Advanced Nuclear Technologies. Processes for planning such as Development Consent Order can learn from the fast track process being progressed or the site based criteria approach for site selection for the Wind industry. We should use processes and learning that already exists to fast track development.

Seeking sites

While we seek interested sites for hosting our 30 day criticality test, we will quickly move forward to a 100 MW thermal single unit demonstrator thereby providing the commercial readiness by 2028. The ANT Market Model paper, published by NNL in April, shows that market demand exists and that advanced nuclear technologies can address a global electricity demand to the value of £2.9 tn. By setting the pace for technological maturity at pace, we can access this market, begin to address it, and take advantage with the UK as a first-mover.

Creating the conditions for a paradigm shift is one thing, making it happen is an entirely different proposition. UK Atomics is setting out to make this paradigm achievable and aims to set a new standard for nuclear deployment. This new model does not just represent a low cost, scalable and non-taxpayer funded option but at £20/MWh it will be the lowest cost of energy.

Our technology won’t also just be built in a factory environment, we plan to produce one reactor per day. If you are going to change, then take a lead and aim high. We need to change perceptions of what is acceptable, what can be achieved and how you go about it. Most importantly, we must show everyone that we are not just talking about it but are living our mission. Collaboration is key, a UK Danish partnership can achieve this. Like others globally, join us in collaborating. Be part of the journey with us and live it.