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<p>The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) maintains an
interest in the global potential of thorium nuclear fuels.</p><p> </p><p>In 2012,
the National Nuclear laboratory (NNL) published an initial comparative assessment
of thorium and uranium technologies in nuclear powered electricity generation. This
is available online from:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fthorium-and-uranium-fuel-cycles-comparison-by-the-national-nuclear-laboratory&data=02%7C01%7Csmrteam%40beis.gov.uk%7Cdd05f6eb801e49a4019908d6934e8acc%7Ccbac700502c143ebb497e6492d1b2dd8%7C0%7C0%7C636858362871826514&sdata=QPoeIoU4Hy5Q0QejJLtBthzHsXfznTY1ZctSMTSm5jM%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thorium-and-uranium-fuel-cycles-comparison-by-the-national-nuclear-laboratory</a>.</p><p>
</p><p>BEIS has considered these views and drawn on the expertise of its national
laboratories to model nuclear scenarios that include the use of thorium. These are
used to inform R&D needs on thorium nuclear fuel cycles. An overview of these
are included in the document “Nuclear Energy Research and Development Roadmap: Future
Pathways”, which is available from:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fnuclear-energy-research-and-development-roadmap-future-pathways&data=02%7C01%7Csmrteam%40beis.gov.uk%7Cdd05f6eb801e49a4019908d6934e8acc%7Ccbac700502c143ebb497e6492d1b2dd8%7C0%7C0%7C636858362871836519&sdata=GRPFBxd0yYpQvfucFPtnBU6IAzWcxW8H3QTEo1LJM2E%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nuclear-energy-research-and-development-roadmap-future-pathways</a>.</p><p>
</p><p>The UK has been supporting research and development into the use of thorium
nuclear fuels since such fuels were used in the Dragon reactor at Winfrith in the
1960s and 1970s. Examples of current activity on thorium and related technologies
include academic research into thorium fuelled reactor systems and fuel cycle processes
through Research Council grants to UK universities; collaboration on thorium fuels,
via the UK Research Councils’ Energy Programme, with national nuclear energy programmes
of other countries on safety, performance and non-proliferation; experimental development
of thorium fuels through the NNL and private sector organisations, as part of international
consortia, and thorium fuel modelling and fuel cycle scenario analysis by the NNL.
These activities cover UK, EU and worldwide initiatives and receive either financial
or strategic support from the Government.</p>
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