Britain has begun exploring options to re-establish the production of reactor fuel for defence purposes, work the government says would be fully consistent with its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to the annual update to Parliament published this week.
The Nuclear Fuels Programme is part of the recapitalisation the Defence Nuclear Enterprise is carrying out simultaneously, which the update describes as covering two submarine build programmes with a further one in design, two warhead programmes, the fuel cycle work, and the infrastructure required to build and maintain those capabilities.
Every British submarine is nuclear powered, with the reactors manufactured by Rolls-Royce Submarines at Raynesway near Derby. The update describes nuclear propulsion as critical to sustaining continuous at sea deterrence, allowing submarines to remain dived on long-range patrols without detection.
Raynesway is one of the two sites receiving a share of the £6 billion committed under the Defence Investment Plan for infrastructure, alongside Barrow-in-Furness, investment the update says will grow the capability of the enterprise to produce a submarine every eighteen months in future.
Britain last enriched uranium for defence purposes at Capenhurst, and the country has relied on existing stocks for reactor fuel since domestic production ceased, which is the position the exploration now under way would change.
The update sets out the rest of the submarine picture alongside it. The Royal Navy has operated the Vanguard class since 1993, and those boats will be replaced by the Dreadnought class, with steel cut for the fourth and final Dreadnought in September 2025 on the same day the King commissioned HMS Agamemnon, the sixth Astute-class submarine.
The Astute class supports the deterrent while also undertaking other defence and intelligence tasks, including work with maritime task groups. Beyond those two programmes sits SSN-AUKUS, the design now in progress, with BAE Systems, the Defence Nuclear Organisation, Babcock and Rolls-Royce Submarines all maintaining teams at Barrow contributing to it.
The enterprise spent £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year and projects spend of over £100 billion through British suppliers over the next ten years, with in excess of £20 billion more going into it between 2026/27 and 2029/30 than across the previous four years.
It’s insane we stopped but this should be done as part of a civilian nuclear program paid for via the private sector. The government should be combining this with the drive for Rolls Royce SMR.
That was my thoughts as well, Jim.
Given three Rolls Royce Small Medium Reactors (SMR) are on order for commissioning in the mid 2030’s Rolls Royce are going to need fuel for those reactors well before then to build the cores. If the UK is going to uncouple itself from the chaos that is the fossil fuel market we will need many more SMR’s and the site on Anglesey apparently has capacity for up to 8 SMR. With all those SSN-A we are going to build (hopefully) as well our stock pile must be under some pressure by now or at least projected to be so.
Hopefully, they haven’t left it too late…
Cheers CR
I agree. But we act so ruddy slowly. RR also wants all the up side without paying much of the investment. As you both say, private sector needs to fund this, not defence only.
The much vaunted report to Parliament waxed lyrical about the role of the Astute Boats and the recent launch of the latest but said not a jot that none can at the moment put to sea, nor for quite a while. This is an utter disgrace but nobody Senior seemingly not held responsible.exactly what have successive CNS and indeed CDS been doing? Asleep at the wheel or just waiting to draw their pension?