Great Britain has identified Rolls-Royce SMR as a key partner for the implementation of the project to build the country’s first small modular reactors (SMR). About this reported on the official website of the British government.
The technology used in Rolls-Royce SMR reactors is based on the pressurized water-water power reactor (PWR) principle. Each such installation will have a capacity of 470 MW of electricity. As part of this initiative, the government plans to invest more than £2.5 billion. The first small modular reactors are expected to start operating in about ten years.
The commissioning of the SMR will coincide with the commissioning of the large Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C nuclear power stations in the 2030s. The development would be the largest increase in nuclear generation in the UK for fifty years and would mark the biggest breakthrough in nuclear power since the 1980s.
Energy Minister Ed Miliband emphasized that the government is changing its approach, moving away from the “no-nuclear status quo” policy, which for a long time inhibited the development of nuclear energy in the country.
“We are entering the golden age of nuclear power with the largest construction program in a generation”, Ed Miliband noted.
The renaissance of nuclear energy has also been supported by other world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.
As of 2025, the UK has five nuclear reactors operating at four sites with a total capacity of 5.9 GW, generating around 15-16% of all electricity in the country. However, most of them plan to stop by the end of the current decade. They are to be replaced by new facilities – Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, each of which will have a capacity of 3.2 GW.
