The University of Manchester has been awarded a £13 million package to lead a groundbreaking programme that can redefine the role of graphite in nuclear power, a key step in deploying the next generation of advanced modular reactors in the UK.
With a £8.2 million grant from the UK Research and Innovation Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) and an additional £5 million grant from industry partners and institutions of higher education, the five-year ENLIGHT initiative addresses both the supply of premium nuclear graphite and the management of existing graphite waste.
Professor Abby Jones, chairman of nuclear graphite at the University of Manchester, emphasized the importance of the initiative.
“Enlight lays the foundation for reestablishing the UK-based graphite supply chain while developing sustainable solutions for recycling and reusing irradiated graphite.
“The program will reduce waste, enhance energy security and support the country’s net-zero ambitions.”
Why graphite is important for advanced modular reactors
Graphite is an important component of many advanced modular reactor designs, such as hot gas cooling reactors and molten salt reactors.
It acts as a moderator and helps to maintain nuclear reactions efficiently and safely. This material can account for up to a third of the construction costs of a nuclear reactor, but the UK is currently completely dependent on imports to meet its needs.
The country’s existing advanced gas cooling reactor (AGR) fleet is set up to retire by 2028, and the already stored more than 100,000 tons of irradiated graphite is already in storage, making sustainable sovereign solutions urgent.
Enlight’s objective is to ensure future advanced modular reactor projects are supported by homemade graphite supply chains and robust waste recycling systems.
Three approaches to graphite innovation
The Enlight program advances graphite technology through three major workstreams.
Sustainable Graphite: Develops methods to safely decontaminate, recycle and reuse irradiated graphite for reuse in advanced modular reactors. Graphite Selection and Design: Engineering New Graphite Materials that can withstand extreme conditions within next-generation nuclear reactors. Graphite Performance: Study how these materials behave under advanced modular reactor-specific conditions to maximize lifespan and efficiency.
These advances could save the UK an estimated £2 billion in long-term waste management costs and strengthen its position as a global leader in nuclear materials science.
National collaboration for the future of Net Zero
The University of Manchester will lead the project alongside Oxford University, Plymouth and Loughborough University, combining expertise in nuclear materials, computational modeling and porous material analysis.
While Loughborough researchers employ sophisticated computational modeling to predict graphite performance in highly stressed environments, Plymouth’s team will focus on the microscopic structure of recycled graphite to ensure safety and reliability.
Dr. Katie Jones, lecturer in environmental and analytical chemistry at the University of Plymouth, added: “This project is not just scientific discoveries, it is a pioneering sustainable solutions for nuclear power, transforming waste into valuable resources and strengthening UK energy security over the next decades.
“This consortium embodies a truly periodic, green approach to nuclear solutions that aims to create a cleaner energy transition and helps to understand some of the traditional concepts surrounding the nuclear industry.
“The expertise in analyzing the complex properties of porous materials will help ensure the suitability of recycled graphite in next-generation reactors. We are particularly excited to have the opportunity to expand our relationship with the University of Manchester and our industrial partners through this initiative.”
Skills for the next generation of nuclear scientists
Beyond materials research, Enlight invests in workforce development to expand the UK graphite research community.
Training the next generation of scientists and engineers is considered essential to meet the government’s ambitions to provide 24GW of new nuclear capabilities by 2050.
Pioneering the sustainable graphite solutions of advanced modular reactors, the ELIGHT programme not only addresses the immediate challenges of material supply and waste management, but also places the UK as a hub for nuclear innovation.
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