The Rolls-Royce-led consortium working on plans to build small nuclear reactors in Britain is in talks to secure up to £300 million of private investment to fund the next stage of its development.
The consortium said yesterday that it would form a new standalone business to move forward with its plans as it confirmed a revamped design for the reactor, with an increased power capacity of 470 megawatts, enough to supply about a million homes.
It said that it aimed to be the first “small modular reactor” design to be assessed by British safety regulators from this autumn. Proponents of SMR technology argue that it could be quicker and cheaper to build than conventional large-scale nuclear plants. The government said last year that it would invest up to “£215 million into small modular reactors to develop a domestic smaller-scale power plant technology design that could potentially be built in factories and then assembled on site”. It said that this would “unlock up to £300 million private sector match-funding”.
While the £215 million is yet to be formally awarded to the consortium, the companies are understood to be counting on receiving the funds and are seeking the private sector funding to go with it. Other members of the consortium include Atkins, Jacobs, Laing O’Rourke, Assystem and BAM Nuttall. It is not clear whether all of them will take stakes in the new standalone company, which does not yet have a name.