Britain allocates $283 million to Rolls-Royce for small nuclear reactors

LONDON, Nov. 8 (Reuters) – Britain has pledged £210 million ($283 million) to help Rolls-Royce build the country’s first small modular nuclear reactor, as part of a drive to achieve net zero carbon emissions .

Reaching this goal by 2050 will require a massive increase in low-carbon power generation such as wind, solar and nuclear power, but large-scale new nuclear projects are struggling to secure funding.

“Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) offer great opportunities to cut costs and build faster so that we can bring clean electricity to people’s homes and further reduce our already declining use of volatile fossil fuels,” said the Minister of Business and Energy Kwasi Quarter.

Britain is also striving to increase clean tech jobs as part of its so-called green industrial revolution, saying it aims to reduce dependence on fossil fuels amid a global spike in gas prices.

The dramatic rise in gas prices this year has forced several small British energy suppliers out of business.

SMRs and can be made in factories, with parts small enough to be transported on trucks and barges and assembled much faster and cheaper than large-scale reactors.

The funding will enable the technology to take the next steps through the UK’s nuclear regulatory process and help identify locations where the mini-nuclear power plants could be deployed, the government said in a statement.

Rolls Royce Group, BNF Resources UK Limited and Exelon Generation Limited will invest £195 million over three years in Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd, a Special Purpose Vehicle, in the technology, said Rolls Royce SMR.

Rolls-Royce Group will own approximately 80% of Rolls-Royce SMR upon completion of this capital increase, it added.

“The (SMR) business could create up to 40,000 jobs through UK deployment and export-enabled growth,” Rolls Royce Chief Executive Warren East said in a statement.

($1 = 0.7414 pounds)

Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Alexander Smith

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