Graphite innovation for nuclear sector wins £13 million

The ENLIGHT (Enabling a Lifecycle Approach to Graphite for Advanced Modular Reactors) programme will focus over five years on two key aspects of graphite production most crucial to the nuclear sector.

These include the development of both a reliable domestic supply chain and the means to control the increasing quantity of irradiated graphite waste.

The programme is based at the University of Manchester, which has received a grant totalling £8.2 million from UK Research and Innovation member organisation, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Manchester, which boasts  its own Irradiated Materials and Molten Salts in Nuclear Technology laboratories, is one of four universities engaged in the project, together with Oxford, Plymouth and Loughborough.

Support has also been provided by industry partners who are investing an additional £5 millions in the work.

The project will focus on research, collaboration, and skills development with the aim of maintaining and developing the UK’s role in nuclear innovation, advanced reactor technology and clean energy innovation.

Graphite is vital for a large proportion of the next-generation Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs) due to be commissioned over the next quarter century.

However the material is costly; it comprises more than 30% of reactor construction costs and, at present, the  country has insufficient squantities to avoid importing supplies.

Principle investigator professor Abbie Jones, chair in nuclear graphite at the University of Manchester, said: “Nuclear graphite plays a vital role in the safety and efficiency of advanced reactors, yet the UK currently relies on overseas suppliers for this material.

“ENLIGHT will lay the foundation to re-establish a UK-based graphite supply chain while developing sustainable solutions to recycle and reuse irradiated graphite – transforming a growing waste stream into a valuable resource. This programme will reduce waste, strengthen energy security, and support the country’s net zero ambitions.”

Waste control is also an issue: more than 100,000 tonnes of irradiated graphite is already in storage, with more imminent as the UK’s  Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor fleet facing decommissioning by 2028, says ENLIGHT.

Recycling and the development of sustainable graphite could save the country as much as £2 billion in waste management costs and boost graphite research and innovation, it claims.

ENLIGHT will focus specifically on sustainable graphite, graphite selection and design and graphite performance.

University of Oxford will lead on graphite selection and design, while Loughborough researchers will employ computational modelling to explore how nuclear graphite behaves under extreme conditions.

Plymouth scientists will provide analysis of porous materials, critical to evaluating the performance and suitability of repurposed graphite, with ENLIGHT also spotlighting skills development.