Tuesday June 10, 2025
After a two-year competition, Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as a favorite tenderer to build the first small modular reactors in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom aims to pass a nuclear energy capacity to 24 GW by 2050, with a mixture of traditional large-scale power plants and small modular reactors (SMR). In July 2023, the large British body of nuclear weapons length, set up to help offer this additional capacity, started the selection process for which SMR technology to be used. There were initially six pre -selected companies, with four preselected companies – GE Hitachi, Holtec, Rolls -Royce SMR and Westinghouse – entering negotiations last September. In February, the four SMR sellers received an invitation to submit final tenders, three of which were submitted in April, with the withdrawal of Westinghouse.
Great British Nuclear, who has now been renamed Great British Energy – Nuclear when he goes to his delivery phase, announced today that Rolls -Royce SMR has been selected as a favorite partner to develop SMR, subject to approvals from the final government and contractual signature.
Find out more: The British government announces 14.2 billion GBP for sizewell C
He said he was aimed at signing contracts with Rolls-Royce SMR later this year and would form a development company. It will also aim to allocate a site later this year and connect projects to the grid in the mid -2030s. A final investment decision should be made in 2029.
“This announcement is a decisive moment for the energy and industrial future of the United Kingdom,” said Simon Bowen, president of Great British Energy – Nuclear. “By selecting a favorite tenderer, we make a decisive step towards the supply of clean, secure and sovereign power. It is more than energy – it is a question of revitalizing the British industry, creating thousands of qualified jobs and building a platform for long -term economic growth.”
The CEO of Rolls-Royce SMR, Chris Choleton, said: “This is a day to celebrate a stage achievement. This success testifies to our incredible team that has developed advanced technology and has worked tirelessly in the past two years to make sure to provide a winning call to GBN.
“In addition to providing clean and clean energy to support the energy independence of our country – the deployment of three of our units will stimulate interior growth by creating thousands of highly qualified and well -remunerated jobs and supply chain opportunities. We are the only SMR company with multiple commitments to create projects in Europe, testifying to our differentiated conception and our convincing offer.”
The company noted that it had already been selected by the Czech Public Service čez to deliver up to 3 GW of electricity in the Czech Republic and that in Sweden Rolls-Royce SMR is in the last two SMRs in their technology selection process.
The Rolls-Royce SMR is a design of 470 Mwe based on a small pressure water reactor. He will provide a basic basic generation for at least 60 years. 90% of the SMR – measuring approximately 16 meters by 4 meters – will be built under factory conditions, limiting activity mainly to the assembly of prefabricated prefabricated modules, which considerably reduces the risk of project and has the potential to considerably shorten the construction programs.
The SMR Rolls-Royce design progresses through the last stage of the evaluation of British nuclear regulators, the only SMR design to have so far reached this step. The evaluation of the generic design is a three-step process carried out by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the Environment Agency (EA) and the natural resources of the Wales to assess the safety, security and environmental protection aspects of a design of nuclear power plants which should be deployed in Great Britain. The successful completion of GDA culminates in the issue of a Confirmation of acceptance of the design of the ONR and a declaration of acceptability of the design of the EA.
The selection of Rolls-Royce SMR as a winner of the United Kingdom Small Modular Reactor Contest was greeted by the Nuclear Industry Association, with its director general Tom Greatrex saying: “This is an extremely important moment for the Rolls-Royce SMR and for the British nuclear program. Potential.
The original plan was to select two or three SMR technologies in the process. And in a press release from the House of Commons, the Energy Secretary, Miliband, said that other SMR technological companies could be part of private sector projects in the United Kingdom which “may want to come earlier” than the government.
Holtec reaction
In response to the announcement on Tuesday, one of the two other preselected contenders, Holtec International, said that he had been disappointed and said that his plans for a manufacturing plant in southern Yorkshire “will now be reduced in size and in work while being delayed in terms of delay”.
He congratulated Rolls-Royce SMR and said: “Despite the result of this competition, Holtec remains resolved in his conviction that Holtec’s SMR-300 is among the most advanced, safest and most deployable reactors’ conceptions in the world. Our participation in the Tendre has strengthened world interest in our technology, and we are grateful to present our capacities.”
“For the future, Holtec intensifies its accent on partnerships with private sector clients in the United Kingdom who can move to the pace and to international stakeholders who are looking for proven and scalable SMR solutions,” added his declaration.
Large plant plans
The selection of Rolls-Royce SMR came while Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the British government would make an investment of 14.2 billion GBP (USD 19.2 billion) to build the nuclear power plant Sizewell C in Suffolk as part of its expenditure exam. The plan led by EDF is that Sizewell C has two EPRs. It would be a design similar to the construction of the factory of two units at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, in order to build it more quickly and at a lower cost due to the experience acquired from what is the first new nuclear construction project in the United Kingdom for about three decades.
Miliband told members of Parliament that Wylfa, in the north of Wales, was considered by great British energy – nuclear for future potential nuclear use, for another factory on a Gigawatt level, or as a site for several SMRs.
What is a SMR?
Small modular reactors – also known as SMRS – are smaller nuclear power plants and are intended to be designed so that their parts can be produced and assembled on the site, which allows costs to lower because an increasing number of the same SMR design is built.
The widely accepted definition of an SMR is that it is a nuclear reactor which has an output level of up to 300 MWE, about a third of the power generated by a unit of nuclear power plant of traditional size. Each SMR could feed around 600,000 houses, probably for 60 to 80 years.
There are more than 70 different SMR conceptions in development, Russia, China and Argentina open the way in terms of construction so far, many other countries with hopes and SMR fleet plans in the 2030s.