Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what funding his Department has allocated to research into the development of small-scale nuclear reactors in each of the last five years.

Government funding for small modular reactors (SMRs) should be seen in the context of the wider nuclear innovation programme where Government, Innovate UK, Research Councils and BEIS expect to invest £460m in nuclear research and development. As part of this commitment the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will allocate £180m to nuclear innovation.

An initial £20m of funding was announced in 2016 to support the development of a range of technology options including small scale nuclear. Funding of £7m for regulators to support industry as well as advance their knowledge of smaller nuclear reactors has also been announced (2017).

In addition the Department has also funded a number of studies including £400k for the National Nuclear Laboratory Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Feasibility Report (2014), £4.5m for the Techno-Economic Assessment of SMRs (2015/16), £40k for a micro reactor study (2016) and £30k for an SMR cost reduction study (2017).