The UK government has committed over GBP30 million ($45.5 million) to support nuclear research and development in a bid to potentially doubling its share of the total generation mix by 2050, according to a new industry strategy.
The strategy commits GBP15 million to a new National Nuclear Users Facility to carry out nuclear technology research, with a further GBP18 million earmarked for 35 nuclear research and development projects which the government expects will leverage a further GBP13 billion in private investment.
The paper, developed by both the government and Nuclear Industrial Council's strategy, says nuclear generation will play an important role in the UK's low-carbon energy system to 2050 and beyond, with the possibility of between 16 GW to 75 GW of new nuclear capacity by 2050.
The more ambitious scenario would double the share of nuclear generation in the overall energy mix from around 20% today to roughly 40-50% by 2050.
