Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of Small Modular Reactors on water security.

Sustainable water usage is a crucial factor in the siting of any industry including energy generation by small modular reactors. Cooling options for small modular reactors and their abstraction requirements are still under consideration by the industry and regulators including direct wet cooling.

Small modular reactors are one of the key industrial technologies being considered in the Environment Agency’s planning for water resource security. It has recently commissioned work to help improve the collaboration between the water and energy sectors and is advising the National Energy System Operator on environmental and water resource capacity and opportunities, as part of the development of the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.