The South West Nuclear Hub welcomes the shortlisting of six companies’ Small Modular Reactor (SMR) designs, chosen as part of a government competition for innovating new nuclear technologies.
Among the shortlisted companies are Hub member EDF alongside Rolls Royce, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy International LLC, Holtec Britain Limited, NuScale Power and Westinghouse Electric Company UK Limited.
The competition was launched earlier this year (March 2023) by Great British Nuclear, with the first stage going live in April. The aim of the competition is to select SMR technologies to co-fund, and these shortlisted companies will now bid for government contracts during the next stage of the competition.
Professor Tom Scott, Co-Director of the South West Nuclear Hub and RAEng Professor in Nuclear Materials has commented on the announcement:
“This is a positive step forwards towards the selection and deployment of SMRs in the UK, but if we’re to meet our carbon emissions targets then we need to maintain or even increase our pace for development.
All of the six companies listed have safe and viable technologies to offer and we welcome the government’s efforts to stimulate commercial competition to ensure the best value for the UK taxpayer.”
The ambition and rationale behind this initiative is to back SMR technology financially and deliver it by the mid-2030’s; diversifying the UKs nuclear energy capabilities and contributing to efforts to achieve net zero by 2050. The suggested timeline would see this being the fastest competition turnaround of this kind.
Professor Simon Middleburgh, Co-director of the Nuclear Futures Institute notes the ambitions and role of universities moving forward:
SMR technology has the potential to alter the market for nuclear power generation, significantly propelling the UK towards achieving our Net Zero targets. The breadth of technology vendors chosen highlights the ambitions within government to ensure a truly competitive design is chosen, one that will not only be deliverable but also benefit the UK tax payer and provide jobs and the opportunity for export from UK shores. The university sector is excited by the announcement and will be supporting the industry partners in many aspects, ensuring that the skills meet the ambition of this timely and important decision.
SMR’s are unlike current nuclear technologies. They are smaller, with a consequently smaller energy output, however the advantages of being smaller and modular (as per the name!) is they can be manufactured and deployed, rather than built on-site. Their size also lends itself to taking up less space.
Gwen Parry-Jones, CEO of Great British Nuclear said:
“Today’s announcement is a key step forward in delivering the government’s objective of boosting nuclear power in this country. Our priority in this process has been to prioritise reliable and sustainable power to the grid early, and that’s why we have focused our first step on the technologies that we viewed as most likely to meet the objective of a final investment decision in 2029.”
To read the full announcement, click here: Six companies through to next stage of nuclear technology competition