Just a quick look at the UKs R&D expenditure on energy. Not that exciting but I thought I would have a look. Data is taken from the International Energy Agency (http://www.iea.org/dbtw-wpd/Textbase/stats/rd.asp)

Nuclear accounts for 65% of the R&D Expenditure since 1974. However, things have changed recently if we look at the expenditure per year:

So renewables are getting more funding than nuclear but nowhere near what nuclear was getting in the ’70s and ’80s.

Now we look at the 2010 figures

So nuclear fission still gets more funding than any other renewable apart from wind despite the massive amount of funding in the past and it being a mature technology.