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The deployment of small nuclear reactors is being held up by the licensing process, and not by issues with the technology, MPs were told on Tuesday.
The Energy and Climate Change select committee (ECCC) heard that the length of time it takes for reactors to be approved, and the consideration of non-technology processes, is delaying the deployment of the small modular reactors (SMRs).
Bill Fox, chief executive of the American company Generation mPower, told the committee it would be “advantageous” to set different licencing criteria for SMRs than for the larger reactors.
He said: “They are different and a number of safety cases analysis that are not required on a SMR that are required on a larger reactor.”
Fox stated these included the lower numbers of required security staff, and the need for a smaller emergency planning zone.
Dr Fiona Rayment, director, Fuel Cycle Solutions, National Nuclear Laboratory, told the committee that the UK had a “world class regulatory regime” but added that the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) could “streamline processes” to help speed up the deployment of SMRs.
Contracts for difference were cited as an option to attract investment and help the development of SMRs in the UK, although Dame Sue Ion, chair of the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board, told MPs: “Government would have to look at what options it has in order to progress this technology if it wants to see it come to fruition”.
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