The UK government says it will provide a similar financing mechanism to a contract for difference (CfD) to help stabilise revenue for a new nuclear project to offset risks and encourage private capital.

In its now published Advanced Nuclear Framework, which lays out a clear path to establish advanced nuclear plants in the UK including small modular reactors (SMRs), advanced modular reactors (AMRs) and micro modular reactors (MMRs), the government said it was willing, in principle, to provide such a mechanism as a CfD.

A CfD sees developers finance the entire construction cost up front, and only begin receiving revenue when the station starts generating electricity.

However, the framework said that the final structure of any mechanism would depend on an agreement between the developer and government, with the developer bearing the bulk of the economic risks and costs of the project.