Derby's Rolls-Royce has been shortlisted in the first stage of a competition run by the Government to deliver the next generation of nuclear reactors. The Government’s ambition is for up to a quarter of all UK electricity to come from nuclear power by 2050.
Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor (SMR) is one of six shortlisted in the Great British Nuclear (GBN) Small Modular Reactor technology selection process. This marks another significant step towards the first plants being built in the UK.
The competition is part of the Government’s plan to revive nuclear power and for the UK to lead the global race to develop cutting-edge technologies to rapidly deliver cleaner, cheaper energy and greater energy security. Unlike conventional nuclear reactors that are built on-site, SMRs are smaller, can be made in factories, and could transform how power stations are built by making construction faster and less expensive.
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Chris Cholerton, chief executive of Rolls-Royce SMR, said: “The Rolls-Royce SMR is a British solution to the global energy security and decarbonisation challenge. We welcome our shortlisting and are eager to build on this progress, moving quickly to the next stage where we can work to agree a contract for deployment and help the Government reach its ambition to deliver up to 24GW of nuclear power by 2050.”
The shortlisted designs are considered by the Government and Great British Nuclear – the government-backed body driving forward nuclear projects across the country – the most able to deliver operational SMRs by the mid-2030s. Rolls-Royce SMR claims its nuclear power plant design can provide enough affordable clean electricity to power a million homes for more than 60 years, helping achieve net-zero targets.
Mr Cholerton added: “We have the only SMR technology in a European regulatory approval process, putting us almost two years ahead of any of our competitors. Securing a domestic contract is vitally important to unlock the enormous global export potential of our clean energy technology.”
Back in June, Rolls-Royce announced huge plans to almost double the size of its Raynesway site and create more than 1,000 new jobs in Derby. It comes amid a planned major expansion of the submarine sector of the engineering giant, after Rolls-Royce Submarines was confirmed to be the supplier of nuclear reactor plants to power attack submarines as part of the tri-nation AUKUS agreement.
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