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Rolls-Royce wins funding to build modular nuclear reactors
Neil Gerrard Associate editor
Artist’s impression of a Rolls-Royce SMR nuclear reactor
Engineering firm Rolls-Royce has raised funding to build small modular nuclear reactors.
It will invest £195m alongside partners BNF Resources UK and Exelon Generation to unlock £210m in grant funding from UK Research and Innovation for the project.
Rolls-Royce will now start work to identify sites for factories where it will manufacture the modules to enable onsite assembly of the power plants as well as entering the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process.
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Nine-tenths of an individual Rolls-Royce SMR (small modular reactor) power plant will be built or assembled in factory conditions and around 80% could be delivered by a UK supply chain, Rolls-Royce claimed. Much of the investment in the venture is expected to be focused in the North of the UK.
A single Rolls-Royce SMR power station is designed to occupy the footprint of two football pitches and power approximately one million homes. The plants will be available to the UK grid in the early 2030s.
Warren East, Rolls-Royce CEO, said: “The SMR programme is one of the ways that Rolls-Royce is meeting the need to ensure the UK continues to develop innovative ways to tackle the global threat of climate change. With the Rolls-Royce SMR technology, we have developed a clean energy solution which can deliver cost competitive and scalable net zero power for multiple applications from grid and industrial electricity production to hydrogen and synthetic fuel manufacturing.
“The business could create up to 40,000 jobs, through UK deployment and export-enabled growth. As a major shareholder in Rolls-Royce SMR, we will continue to support its path to successful deployment.”
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