Rolls-Royce signs two nuclear reactor deals
- The tables are closing for contracts to build nuclear power plants in Sweden and the Netherlands
- Company also chosen by Czechs as preferred supplier for energy group CEZ
- Pressure mounts on Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to approve SMRs in the UK
Rolls-Royce is set to sign deals to build mini-nuclear power plants in Sweden and the Netherlands, The Mail on Sunday reports.
The British engineering giant was last week selected by the Czech government as the preferred supplier for state energy group CEZ, beating out competitors from France, the US and Japan.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed company hit a record high last week after it won a ground-breaking contract to develop and build small modular reactors (SMRs). The first reactors are expected to be built in 2035.
Time for a decision: Pressure mounts on Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to approve SMRs in the UK
Rolls told The Mail on Sunday that similar deals would be struck in Sweden and the Netherlands before the end of the year. Pressure is mounting on Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to approve SMRs in the UK.
In Sweden, Rolls is on the shortlist of two companies that want to deploy a fleet of SMRs in the country.
It has been shortlisted by Vattenfall, the Swedish multinational energy company, to meet the growing demand for electricity.
In the Netherlands, Rolls has signed an exclusive agreement with Dutch development company ULC-Energy to work together on the implementation of SMRs in the country. Rolls is awaiting approval from both countries’ governments.
Earlier this year, the Polish government gave the green light to state-owned company Industria to build a power plant using Rolls’ SMR technology.
Rolls spokesman Dan Gould said: ‘We are making rapid progress across Europe.
‘We have a great tradition in nuclear energy, as we have been building nuclear submarines for many years.’
But he urged Labour to move faster on SMRs in the UK.
“We would like the government to make a decision before the end of the year,” he said.
Nuclear power is seen as a key source of clean energy as the world moves towards net zero. Rolls is not the only British company in the running for government contracts to build SMRs.
The company is up against US-Japanese alliance GE-Hitachi and US companies NuScale Power, Westinghouse and Holtec, which last week said they wanted to build an SMR plant in South Yorkshire, home to Ed Miliband’s Doncaster North constituency.
“There has been a change of government and they are looking at the best options,” Gould said, but he added: “This technology provides a competitive edge and we must not allow others to overtake us.”
SMRs can be produced in factories cheaper and faster than conventional nuclear reactors.
The UK SMR competition was announced in 2015 by then-chancellor George Osborne. But it wasn’t until 2023 that Great British Nuclear, the government agency tasked with shepherding a new generation of reactors under development, launched the official design competition.
A shortlist of six companies was announced in October 2023, but timelines slipped. Bids were submitted in July 2024, with French energy giant EDF dropping out.
The remaining candidates were initially told that the shortlist would be reduced from five to four by the end of August, but the election delayed this by a month.
A winner is scheduled to be chosen by the end of this year or early 2025.
The government has yet to confirm which locations will be made available for the first SMRs.
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