The UK will build Europe’s first highly enriched uranium (HALEU) plant to displace Russia as the world’s only producer of this type of nuclear fuel for sale, the Department for Energy Security and Climate Neutrality said on Wednesday.
Earlier, the British government announced its intention to invest more than 300 million pounds in its own production of HALEU-based fuel for next-generation nuclear reactors. In this way, Britain hopes to displace Russia from the world market, since Russia is the only country producing this material for export.
We are talking about a new uranium enrichment facility, for the construction of which the government will allocate 196 million pounds sterling to the European consortium Urenco, the department said.
The facility will be located in Cheshire in northwest England, and by 2031 it will be able to produce up to 10 tons of HALEU per year, according to a press release.
Thus, according to the British authorities, Great Britain will become “the first European country to produce advanced nuclear fuel.” It will not only be used at nuclear power plants in Britain itself, but also exported abroad, the statement says.
At the same time, foreign experts are skeptical about the prospects for creating HALEU production capacities in the West. They noted that enriched uranium producers are not eager to invest in organizing enrichment to the HALEU level until they are guaranteed sufficient volumes of orders. In turn, advanced reactors are still considered “paper” by many customers; accordingly, customers have little desire to contract HALEU volumes.
After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the West increased sanctions pressure on Russia. Calls to abandon Russian energy sources have become louder. The disruption of supply chains has led to an increase in prices for fuel, electricity and food in Europe and the United States.
Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev stated that the Russian nuclear industry will continue to develop and, thanks to its advanced developments, will not allow itself to be forced out of the global nuclear market by those who use political levers for this purpose.
/Prime/