Rolls-Royce nears two nuclear reactor deals

Rolls-Royce is closing deals to build mini nuclear power plants in Sweden and the Netherlands, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The British engineering giant was last week selected by the Czech government as the preferred supplier to state energy group CEZ, beating off competition from French, American and Japanese rivals.

Shares in the FTSE 100-listed company hit an all-time high last week after winning the landmark contract, which will see it develop and build small modular reactors (SMRs), with the first expected to be built in 2035.

Rolls told the Mail on Sunday that similar deals are expected in Sweden and the Netherlands before the end of this year. Pressure is mounting on Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to approve SMRs in the UK.

In Sweden, Rolls is on a shortlist of two companies competing to deploy a fleet of SMRs in the country.

It has been selected by Vattenfall, the Swedish energy multinational, 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 SMR in the country. Rolls is awaiting government approval from both countries.

Earlier this year, the Polish government gave the green light to state-owned company Industria to build a power plant that will run on Rolls’ SMR technology.

Rolls spokesman Dan Gould said: ‘We are making rapid progress across Europe.

“We have a long tradition in nuclear matters, having built nuclear submarines for years.”

But he urged Labour to move more quickly towards SMRs in the UK.

“We would like the government to make a decision by 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 emissions. Rolls is not the only British company competing for government contracts to build SMRs.

It faces US-Japanese alliance GE-Hitachi and US firms NuScale Power, Westinghouse and Holtec, which last week said they wanted to build an SMR factory in South Yorkshire, home to Ed Miliband’s Doncaster North constituency.

“There has been a change of government and the best options are being explored,” Gould said, but added: “This technology has first-mover advantage and we must not let others catch up.”

SMRs can be created in factories more cheaply and quickly than conventional nuclear reactors.

The competition for the UK’s SMR reactors was announced in 2015 by then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, but it was not until 2023 that Great British Nuclear, the government agency tasked with overseeing the development of a new generation of reactors, launched the official design competition.

A shortlist of six companies was announced in October 2023, but deadlines were pushed back. Bids were submitted in July 2024 and French energy giant EDF withdrew.

The remaining contenders were initially told the shortlist would be narrowed from five to four by the end of August, but the election delayed this by a month.

According to the established timeline, a winner is expected to be selected by the end of this year or early 2025.

The Government has yet to confirm which sites will be available for the first SMRs.