Advanced Modular Reactors (AMR), Research, Development and Demonstration Programme - Phase A Competition

As part of the £385m Advanced Nuclear Fund, the AMR RD&D programme aims to demonstrate High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) technology by the early 2030s, in time for any potential commercial AMRs to support Net Zero by 2050. This fund is aligned with the Department's £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative clean energy technologies and processes through the 2020s and 2030s.

This HTGR demonstration, which will be sited in the UK, should be shaped by end-user requirements, and should incentivise private investment in HTGRs by removing technical risk. It should have innovation at the centre of its design, build, and application.

Through a pre-commercial, fully funded procurement Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), this Phase A competition aims to fund up to 6 Pre-FEED (Front End Engineering Design) studies across two key technology lots. These are:

Lot 1: Reactor Demonstration (up to 4 Pre-FEED studies will be awarded) for projects developing Advanced Modular HTGR technologies, with up to £500k available for each project.

Lot 2: Fuel Demonstration (up to 2 Pre-FEED studies will be awarded) for projects developing Coated Particle Fuel (CPF) for HTGR technologies, with up to £250k available for each project.

Please visit the main AMR RD&D Phase A webpage for further information on the programme: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advanced-modular-reactor-amr-research-development-and-demonstration-programme

For more information on the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio please visit this website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/net-zero-innovation-portfolio

Update: Please note that the supplier Q&A document was added to this notice on 13/05/2022. Please refer to this and the other bidding documents when drafting your submission.

Additional information: Update: Please note that the supplier Q&A document was added to this notice on 13/05/2022

How to Apply

If you wish to take part in this procurement, please see the Phase A Competition Guidance Notes attached to this Notice for further details. Application must be made via the online application form. The link to this form is included within the notice. Please see the relevant link above.

Prospective applicants must submit a complete submission via the online form by 2pm, 1 June 2022. Any late submissions will not be considered. BEIS will not be held liable for recovery of costs from unsuccessful bids if a contract is not awarded. All costs will be borne by the bidding organisations. If a contract is created it will be upon BEIS Terms and Conditions, which are available on Contracts Finder with this Notice. If successful and upon contract signature, the contract will commence week commencing 11 July 2022. Project completion for Phase A is by 13 January 2023.

A briefing event is due to take place week commencing 25 April 2022, to register your interest in this event, please complete the Briefing Event Registration Form to register your interest. The link to this form is included as part of this notice.

The deadline for registration to enter the Phase A SBRI competition is 2pm, 16 May 2022. However, please register as soon as possible to receive relevant competition updates. This form is used to gauge interest in the competition. Please note that it is not compulsory to register via this form in order to submit an application to this competition, but we would encourage applicants to do so.

Questions on the competition can be submitted using the Q&A Form. Please submit any questions by 2pm, 2 May 2022. Questions submitted after this date may not be answered. BEIS will respond to any queries which, in our judgement, are of material significance through an anonymised Q&A sheet published on the AMR RD&D Webpage week commencing 9 May 2022, to ensure there is sufficient time to include the responses in the applications.

Please note: A new version of the competition guidance was uploaded at 4:30pm on the 8th of April. This version replaces the previous version attached to this notice. No text content has changed. The previous version contained broken links - these links have been fixed in the new version. Please refer to this document for guidance on the competition.