- Rolls closing on contracts to build nuclear plants in Sweden and Netherlands
- Company also selected by Czechs as preferred supplier to power group CEZ
- Pressure mounting on Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to approve SMRs in UK
Rolls-Royce is closing in on 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 government of the Czech Republic as preferred supplier to state-owned power group CEZ, beating competition from French, American and Japanese rivals.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed firm hit a record high last week after it won the landmark contract, which will see it develop and construct small modular reactors (SMRs), with the first expected to be built by 2035.
Decision time: Pressure is mounting on Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to approve SMRs in the UK
Rolls told The Mail on Sunday that similar deals were set to be struck 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 competing to deploy a fleet of SMRs in the country.
It has been shortlisted by Vattenfall, the Swedish multinational power company, to meet rising demand for electricity.
In The Netherlands, Rolls has signed an exclusive agreement with Dutch development firm ULC-Energy to work together to deploy SMRs in the country. Rolls is awaiting government approval from both countries.
Earlier this year, the Polish government gave the green light for state-owned Industria to construct a power plant working with Rolls’s SMR technology.
Rolls spokesman Dan Gould said: ‘We are making rapid progress across Europe.
‘We have a great heritage in nuclear having built nuclear submarines for years.’
But he urged Labour to move faster in the UK towards SMRs.
‘We’d like to see the Government 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 shifts towards net-zero. Rolls is not the only British firm in the running for Government contracts to build SMRs.
It is up against US-Japanese alliance GE-Hitachi, and American firms NuScale Power, Westinghouse and Holtec, which said last week it 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 it is looking at the best options,’ Gould said, but added: ‘There is a first mover advantage to this technology and we shouldn’t let others catch up.’
SMRs can be created in factories cheaper and faster than conventional nuclear reactors.
The UK SMR competition was announced in 2015 by then chancellor George Osborne. But it was not until 2023 that Great British Nuclear, the Government agency tasked with shepherding a new generation of reactors into development, launched the official design competition.
A shortlist of six companies was announced in October 2023 but timelines slipped. Bids were submitted in July 2024 and French energy giant EDF dropped out.
The remaining contenders were initially told that the shortlist would be reduced from five to four by late August, but the Election delayed this by a month.
Under timelines, it is hoped a winner will be selected by later this year or early 2025.
The Government has yet to confirm which sites will be made available for the first SMRs.
DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS
AJ Bell
AJ Bell
Easy investing and ready-made portfolios
Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown
Free fund dealing and investment ideas
interactive investor
interactive investor
Flat-fee investing from £4.99 per month
Saxo
Saxo
Get £200 back in trading fees
Trading 212
Trading 212
Free dealing and no account fee
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.