Plan to build mini reactors running on nuclear waste

Start-up aims to use Sellafield plutonium within seven year to help plug generator shortfall

A NUCLEAR power start-up is seeking to create clean energy out of 140 tonnes of waste plutonium stored in Cumbria as Britain scrambles to wean itself off fossil fuels.

Newcleo hopes to use spent fuel deposited in Sellafield in a pioneering reactor design that will rival the small nuclear generators being developed by Rolls-royce.

The proposals come as Boris Johnson seeks to usher in a nuclear revolution for Britain after vowing to triple capacity with eight additional reactors by 2050.

London-based Newcleo will probably put its first reactor on British soil because of a precedent for private operators of nuclear plants in the UK, according to Italian physicist Stefano Buono, the chief executive.

It is understood to be keen to use plutonium stored at Sellafield but has not yet decided on a site for its first plant.

Mr Buono’s lead-cooled reactor models use a mix of uranium and plutonium, which is a waste product of existing plants in the UK.

The company raised €300m (£257m) this week to help fund its first reactors after raising €100m last year from investors including ex-goldman Sachs banker Claudio Costamagna and asset manager Azimut last year. Its designs are still at an early stage.

A fleet of reactors using Mr Buono’s design could burn through a tonne of plutonium per year, he said, adding: “It’s an amazing tool for eliminating the problem.”

Mr Johnson has repeatedly said that he believes nuclear power is vital for eliminating Britain’s carbon emissions and freeing it from dependence on foreign fuel from the likes of Russia.

However, new nuclear plants will face a swathe of regulatory and planning hurdles and could take decades to build. The Government is also understood to be seeking to remove Chinese company CGN from further involvement in nuclear infrastructure because of national security concerns.

Mr Buono said his company plans to make 200MW reactors at a cost of less than €1bn each – a fifteenth of the power of the £26bn reactor being built at Hinkley Point, and comparable in size to the modular reactor being developed by Rolls.

Newcleo also intends to build 30MW sealed reactor units which can be used to power ships, at a cost of €150m each.

The UK has the largest civil plutonium stockpile in the world, including material from other nations’ nuclear programmes, such as that of Japan.

It costs the Government tens of millions of pounds per year to store this waste, a bill which will continue for the next century. The material, a component of nuclear bombs, also poses a security risk.

Mr Buono said that existing plants “create a lot of plutonium and other heavy elements and those are the elements that normally have to be put underground in a geological repository. So, essentially, we can use these elements – they become our fuel”.

Small modular reactors are seen as a cheaper way to quickly build flexible generating capacity than big projects, which can cost tens of billions of pounds. The smaller designs can often make use of existing nuclear sites and the security and connection to the grid they offer.

The plans to power civilian ships would require an overhaul of regulation. Today, only military surface ships and submarines in Europe are nuclear powered. Russia operates the only nuclear-powered cargo ship in existence, although the US, Japan and Germany have previously built prototypes.

The proposed sealed units would last for 15 years and be loaded with all the fuel needed to operate during their time at sea.

The company hopes to have decided by the summer on where to build its first reactor, which it intends to have operating in the UK in seven years.

The UK is an attractive place because of its ambitious timeframe to decarbonise, its plan to build reactors, as well as its precedent for having private owners and operators of the plants.

Backed by the Agnelli industrialist family, Newcleo is developing technology based on a well-established understanding of sodium-cooled reactors.

Part of the money is Mr Buono’s own after he sold cancer treatment developer AAA to Novartis for $3.9bn (£3.2bn) in 2017, reportedly landing him $420m.