Newcleo to scale back UK operations

The company said that, following a review of its global programmes, the board of Newcleo had resolved "to concentrate the group's resources on territories committed to realising a closed fuel cycle (including the reuse of spent nuclear fuel and achieving energy independence) and those who are more substantively supportive of the development of advanced modular reactor (AMR) technologies".

Since establishing and even headquartering itself in the UK in 2021, Newcleo said it has "continuously engaged with successive government administrations on access to the UK's stock of stored plutonium (which Newcleo had planned to recycle for use as new fuel for its reactors) as well as underlining the need for clear 'in principle' government support for projects such as Newcleo's".

In January this year, the UK government announced that the country's stockpile of some 140 tonnes of civil plutonium - currently stored at the Sellafield site in Cumbria - will be immobilised and eventually disposed of in a geological disposal facility.

Newcleo - which relocated its headquarters to Paris in September 2024 - said that while the UK government has provided support and funding for other small modular reactor (SMR) technologies, "opportunities for this backing have not been forthcoming for Generation IV developers in the UK such as Newcleo".

It added: "In addition, the alternative routes to market for AMRs which have been mooted for a number of years in UK policy, including processes involving Great British Energy - Nuclear and National Wealth Fund, are unlikely to offer certainty of tangible support in a timeframe capable of making the UK a better prospect for Newcleo compared to other territories."

Newcleo said it plans to retain a reduced UK team - which currently numbers about 150 staff - to maintain its presence in the UK and allowing it to "ramp up its activity should the outlook for AMRs in Britain improve in future". The company is writing to the UK government requesting meetings "in a bid to explore any new proposals that could alter or reverse the business decision."

"Sadly, despite many attempts to engage with political stakeholders, the UK government has decided to not make its plutonium available for the foreseeable future and to lend its political support and considerable funding to other technologies," said Newcleo founder and CEO Stefano Buono.

He added: "I am personally writing to our contacts in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Treasury to explain our decision and to invite further discussions on what, if any, support could be provided to keep our UK projects alive, either now or in the future and I very much hope to hear some positive proposals."

In April 2024, the Nuclear Industry Association applied to the UK government for a justification decision for Newcleo's lead-cooled fast reactor, the LFR-AS-200. Such a decision is required for the operation of a new nuclear technology in the country and was the first for an advanced nuclear technology in the UK.

In June this year, Newcleo's LFR-AS-200 reactor design was accepted to enter the UK's Generic Design Assessment - a voluntary, non-mandatory pre-licensing process.