newcleo becomes first advanced reactor technology accepted for UK regulatory design assessment

LONDON, UK – 10 June 2025 – DESNZ have confirmed their acceptance of newcleo’s GDA

application for its commercial-scale 200MWe Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) technology in Great

Britain – the first ever such acceptance for an Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR).

The GDA process was developed by the UK’s principal nuclear regulators, the Office for Nuclear

Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency (EA), as a means to scrutinise new nuclear power

plant designs and assess their acceptability for use in Great Britain. newcleo aims to complete a

two-step GDA with the ONR, EA, and Natural Resources Wales (NRW), including a fundamental

assessment of their technology by the regulators. The GDA process will take around two years, with

the start date to be agreed with the regulators.

This application acceptance reflects the progress that newcleo Group has made in their UK project

as well as the advancement of their research, development, and design activities. This step follows

the application to the UK authorities for a Regulatory Justification Decision on newcleo’s LFR in April

2024 – the first such application for a new reactor for almost a decade and the first ever for an AMR.

newcleo employs over 150 staff in the UK across three sites, covering engineering, research,

security, and more, with over 1,200 individuals employed across 19 European locations. newcleo’s

LFR reactor design is being developed for commercial deployment and the UK project team is

currently investigating a number of potential sites for deployment of the technology in the UK.

The announcement adds to the progress newcleo’s project has achieved elsewhere:

• newcleo’s LFR was selected for support by the European Industrial Alliance on Small

Modular Reactors (SMRs), one of only two Advanced Modular designs to be chosen, a

resounding endorsement of the advanced potential of newcleo’s design.

• In France, newcleo achieved two key milestones last December in its nuclear authorisation

process. The company submitted a Safety Option File (DOS) to the French Authority for

Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ASNR) for its planned fuel assembly testing facility

newcleo.com

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and successfully concluded the pre-licensing phase for the safety options of its LFR-AS-30

reactor design.

• Building on this momentum, newcleo recently acquired a site in Chusclan, France to develop

FASTER, an R&D innovation and training centre designed by Pininfarina that will support the

development of its future fuel assembly manufacturing facility in France. This state-of-the-art

site – which will not store or handle any radioactive materials – will play a central role in

advancing newcleo’s strategy to close the nuclear fuel cycle and safely produce clean,

affordable, and sustainable energy essential to a low-carbon future. This work builds on

newcleo’s broader European R&D infrastructure, including its joint centre with ENEA in

Brasimone, Italy, among others.

• Additionally, newcleo and Jadrová vyraďovacia spoločnosť (JAVYS), Slovakia's state

enterprise responsible for spent nuclear fuel management, have signed a joint venture to

develop up to four LFR reactors at the Jaslovske Bohunice V1 site in the Slovak Republic

alongside a comprehensive solution for the reuse of the country’s spent nuclear fuel by

newcleo's advanced LFR technology.

Since 2021 the company has raised over EUR 570m from institutional and individual investors and

has seen an increasing number of European players joining newcleo’s growing funding base – which

to date counts over 750 shareholders.

Stefano Buono, Founder and CEO of newcleo, said:

“We are pleased to be entering the Generic Design Assessment process, a key milestone in

newcleo’s UK project. Furthermore, today’s announcements from the UK government send a clear

message that the future for nuclear is bright. We are particularly encouraged by the support for

private sector-led projects and the potential for routes for future investment – as the first advanced

technology to be accepted into the GDA and regulatory justification processes we are looking forward

to being part of these discussions and helping to add to the range of nuclear technologies for the

UK.”

Andrew Murdoch, newcleo’s Managing Director UK, said:

“We are looking forward to working with the ONR, EA, and NRW and to starting the GDA process

as soon as possible. We are delighted to celebrate this further step in newcleo’s journey, and the

fact that we are the first AMR project to have achieved this milestone in the UK and have done so

without any public funding, only underlines the strength of our proposed design and operating model

and our determination to delivering advanced new nuclear technologies to Great Britain. This news

supports our continued commitment to deployment in the UK as part of our wider strategy to play a

leading role in creating a more autonomous, low-carbon British energy system.”

newcleo.com

Source: https://assets.ctfassets.net/2...