22nd February 2021 12:27 pm 22nd February 2021 12:27 pm The UK’s small modular reactor (SMR) programme could make a key contribution to net zero and position the UK at the forefront of a huge global market writes Richard Deakin, Challenge Director of the Low Cost Nuclear challenge, UKRI Born the son of a coal miner in South Yorkshire in the 60’s, I grew up in a region then dominated by deep mining and heavy industry. That coal industry with all its risks and damaging environmental consequences no longer exists, but the demand for energy and power continues to grow both here in the UK, and also globally, where innovation in the sector is key to lifting huge tracts of the world’s population out of poverty.