The Nuclear Fuel Fund aims to support the UK’s nuclear fuel supply chain to develop the capabilities needed to meet current and future fuel demand in the UK and globally.
The Nuclear Fuel Fund (NFF) aims to support the UK’s nuclear fuel supply chain to develop the capabilities needed to meet current and future fuel demand in the UK and globally. This is in recognition of the value of maintaining a strong domestic fuel supply chain to support the ambition to increase civil nuclear deployment to up to 24GW by 2050 and protect the country’s energy security.
The NFF will help overcome barriers to investment in the UK’s front-end fuel cycle supply chain by offering match funding to promising projects which support the establishment of new capabilities to produce or handle uranium and associated fuel products.
There are specific categories of fuel capabilities which were identified through the Request For Information (RFI) process as being of particular priority for the NFF to support. These capabilities are considered to be the most strategically important to the UK’s future nuclear deployment ambitions, and where funding will be most impactful to remove market barriers.
The categories are:
- Light Water Reactor (LWR) Fuel Supply
- High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) Supply Chain
- Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) Fuel Fabrication Capabilities
- Enabling UK Fuel Production Capabilities
Further guidance on the scope of each of these categories is contained in the application guidance. All grant funding for NFF projects must be transferred to the grant recipient and spent by 31 March 2025.