Rolls Royce closes in on European nuclear reactor deals as UK process delayed

Rolls Royce is closing in on two deals to build miniaturised nuclear power plants in Sweden and the Netherlands after a successful deal with the Czech Republic announced last week.

Rolls-Royce boss Tufan Erginbilgic had warned that the firm would start building small modular reactors (SMRs) in Europe should UK ministers fail to speed up decision-making on national nuclear construction.

In the Netherlands, it has signed an exclusive agreement with Dutch development firm ULC-energy to work together to deploy SMRs – which are essentially scaled-down, cheaper versions of nuclear power plants – in the country, according to the Mail on Sunday.

In Sweden, Rolls is on a shortlist of two to supply energy for Vattenfall, the Swedish multinational power company, to meet the rising demand for electricity.

Last week, the London-listed company was selected by Czech as the preferred supplier to state-owned power group CEZ, beating French, American and Japanese competition.

The company’s shares jumped five per cent after the deal was announced.

Earlier this year, the Polish government also approved the construction of a power plant using Rolls’ SMR technology by the state-owned industry.

In the UK, Rolls Royce is competing for up to £20bn in government funding to roll out Britain’s first SMRs, although delays have beset the project.

The company has urged the Labour government to move faster with the development of nuclear tech and warned earlier this year that it would look further afield for development sites.

The UK SMR competition was announced in 2015. Still, it wasn’t until last year that Great British Nuclear, an arm’s length body tasked with developing the reactors, launched the official design competition.

Six companies have been shortlisted in GBN’s competition to determine who will provide the SMR tech. Other contenders include EDF, GE-Hitachi, Holtec Britain and Nuscale. The winners will be announced late 2024 or early 2025, although they were originally due to be announced earlier this summer.