On Nov 9, Ma Kai, vice premier of China’s State Council, and Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Lucy Jeanne Neville-Rolfe), minister of the UK’s State for Energy and Intellectual Property at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, unveiled a plaque for the new UK-China Nuclear Joint Research and Innovation Centre.

Qian Zhimin, president of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), alongside the director of the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), jointly introduced the research strengths of the two sides and the future development strategy of the research centre.

The inauguration of the research centre marks a new chapter that the Sino-UK collaboration on nuclear energy, building upon past cooperation in nuclear energy investment, will allow more cooperation in the field of scientific research, technology, and throughout the whole nuclear industrial chain.

Located in the UK’s Manchester, the centre aims to build a promising and influential tie for the Sino-UK cooperation on nuclear technologies and a platform for research and studies.

With each side owning a 50 percent share, the CNNC (branch in the UK) and NNL will jointly pay for the center’s research and development expenses, and plan to invest 50 million pounds over a five-year period.

The UK-China nuclear research centre aims to study the demand and development trends of nuclear power and nuclear technology in China, the UK, and the international market; to organize the proposal of research projects on nuclear technologies; to choose the research departments and manage research projects; and to conduct consulting services for nuclear technology research. At present, a series of research events have already been held.