Great British Nuclear shortlists four companies for small modular reactor roll-out

Rolls Royce SMR, GE Hitachi, Holtec, and Westinghouse have been selected by Great British Nuclear (GBN) to progress to the next stage of the contest to supply the UK with its first fleet of small modular reactor (SMR) power plants.

The arms-length government-backed body confirmed on Thursday it had now concluded the tender phase of the technology selection progress and was inviting the four shortlisted companies to enter negotiations.

GBN has narrowed down the contenders from a list of six that were invited to submit tenders earlier this summer. French energy giant EDF dropped out of the competition in July, while US firm NuScale was eliminated this week.

Chris Cholerton, CEO of Rolls Royce SMR, said the nuclear arm of Rolls Royce was already "18 months" ahead of competitors in the regulatory approvals process.

"Today's news that we will progress to formal negotiation with GBN will help us to maintain this important first-mover advantage," he said. "Rolls-Royce SMR has been chosen by the Czech Republic to deploy their fleet of SMRs and is in the final two in Sweden's SMR selection process. Success in the UK will further strengthen our position as the leading SMR company and ensure the UK is able to capitalise on this transformational opportunity for the domestic supply chain."

The news was also welcomed by Andy Champ, country leader at GE Hitachi. "We have big ambitions for deploying our SMR technology in the UK, so we are proud to advance to the next stage of GBN's competition," he said. "With site works already underway in Canada for our first BWRX-300 - the most advanced SMR project in the G7 - we are in a strong position to lead SMR deployment in the UK by leveraging our expertise in other markets."

GE Hitachi has put forward plans for a 300MWe boiling water reactor, Holtec a 300MWe pressurised water reactor, Rolls-Royce SMR a 470 MWe pressurised water reactor, and Westinghouse a 300 MWe/900MWth pressurised water reactor. 

Advocates of SMRs maintain could slash nuclear power costs compared to large scale reactors and could be delivered on considerably faster timetables, allowing the technology to play a key role in the net zero transition from the 2030s onwards.

However, critics have warned that no commercial SMRs have been delivered anywhere in the world and the nuclear industry has a long history of projects that miss deadlines and result in huge additional costs. As such, they have argued that the government should not rely on SMRs to meet emissions targets and should instead redouble efforts to deliver more renewables capacity, smart grid technologies, and energy efficiency improvements.

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