Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has commissioned any research on thorium molten salt reactors.

Thorium fuel research is undertaken via UKRI grants to UK Universities for academic research and via the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).

BEIS and its partner organisations continue to maintain a watching brief on the state of development and market demand for thorium-based nuclear fuels. BEIS officials also remain in contact with a number of organisations that support thorium use or are undertaking research into its applications.