Rolls-Royce submits final tender to build small modular reactors (SMR) in UK

The news came as a government competition for the technology enters its final stage.

Great British Nuclear (GBN) issued an invitation to submit final tender to the four remaining venders of SMRs in February. Aside from Rolls-Royce, the other three companies still hoping to build SMRs in the UK are: GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy International; Holtec Britain; and Westinghouse Electric Company UK.

SMRs are smaller than conventional nuclear power plants and in theory their modular design and construction should make them cheaper and faster to build. However, no commercial-scale SMR has yet been built outside of Russia and China, as SMRs have proven costly and slow to get off the ground in practice.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged in February to reform planning rules to build SMR fleets in England and Wales, and GBN is expected to make its final decision on its competition this spring.

One expected use for SMRs is for them to be co-located with energy-intensive industrial sites such as AI data centres, as a boom in their construction places strain on existing electricity grids.

Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce SMR chief executive said, “I am grateful for the concerted effort from everyone at Rolls-Royce SMR who has contributed to our submission. We have a world-class team behind a market-leading product, and I am confident we have provided a compelling offer to GBN, to partner with them in delivering the next generation of nuclear power for the UK.”

Rolls-Royce has already been selected in the Czech Republic by European utility company ČEZ, to deliver up to 3 GW of electricity. It has also been shortlisted by Vattenfall in its competition to select a nuclear technology for deployment in Sweden.