After he presented his critical analysis of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) on invitation of the organisers in the European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF 2018) in Bratislava, Slovakia, last June, David Lowry asked under the Freedom of Information act access to key-documentation on SMRs from the British government. After an initial refusal and subsequent appeal, the department responsible for nuclear policy, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) delivered some of the information, but heavily edited and blacked out.
Dr. Lowry had asked access to the minutes and other papers from the previously secret independent Expert Financial Working Group (EFWG) on SMRs. Whereas SMRs are often claimed to be cheap by the industry, the Guardian [1] concluded from the papers Lowry received that companies involved are asking for large amounts of funding.
On request of the European Commission, Nuclear Transparency Watch already earlier published the background paper that accompanied Dr. Lowry’s presentation at ENEF 2018. [2]
He now asked Nuclear Transparency Watch to also publish the documentation on which the Guardian article was based:
– [Parts of the] BEIS cover letter with the argumentation to withhold part of the information from the public highlighted [3]
– The documentation received from BEIS [4]