Rolls-Royce eyes sites for roll out of mini nuclear reactors across England and Wales

Rolls-Royce is hoping to secure a number of sites for the roll out of a fleet of modular mini nuclear reactors with potential locations at existing disused nuclear sites around the country.

The sites are managed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which has a remit to clean up nuclear sites, but means it is responsible for a significant portfolio of land now under consideration for the new power plants.

Rolls-Royce has said the design of the modular nuclear facilities would see them building parts of the power stations on a central production line, before they are then transported to sites across the country for assembly. This would help speed up the production process and keep costs down – provided they win contracts to provide them to a number of sites.

The locations under consideration include Dungeness in Kent, Wylfa on Anglesey in north wales, Moorside in west Cumbria and Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd, northwest Wales.

The small modular reactors, or SMRs, will generate around 500MW of electricity a year, Rolls-Royce said, enough energy to power a city the size of Leeds.

In 2020, Boris Johnson threw his support behind the creation of smaller nuclear reactors, with the government matching existing private investment and providing £210m for what could be as many as 16 new nuclear power facilities in the UK.

Rolls-Royce is also considering buying one of the existing sites. According to the Financial Times Wylfa in Anglesey, owned by Japan’s Hitachi, which abandoned plans to build a large reactor there two years ago, is understood to be an option.

A Rolls-Royce spokesperson told The Independent: “We are focusing our attention on sites that are part of established nuclear communities and where we can find the right skills, expertise and infrastructure, and move at pace to deliver our SMR programme.

“As part of our development, we need to identify a pipeline of sites to allow us to deploy a fleet of SMRs - including in North Wales and West Cumbria”.

The NDA told The Independent: “Safely decommissioning our sites and freeing up the land for future use is our focus.

“We welcome engagement with stakeholders who may want to talk to us about the potential future use of our land.”

As concerns over the volatility of gas prices have risen due to the current energy crisis, attention is increasingly turning to nuclear power in the UK, particularly as low levels of wind power in the second half of 2021 led to low wind output, highlighting the vulnerability of the grid to uneven power provision.

However, there remains considerable debate as to whether nuclear power, which has an infamous reputation for disasters, can be considered “green”, while lethal nuclear waste can have calamitous impacts for centuries if improperly stored.

A 2020 government report found the 178-acre nuclear power facility site at Dounreay in Scotland will only be safe for other uses in 313 years’ time.

The site on the north coast of Scotland was only home to functioning nuclear reactors for 39 years, but the clean-up will take roughly 10 times as long, with efforts already underway to clean up hazardous radioactive material.

The Rolls-Royce spokesperson suggested any fears about nuclear waste were unfounded, and acknowledged that while waste from the UK's early nuclear power stations had occasionally been poorly managed or underfunded, the decommissioning process for a modern unit was a major priority and key element in its original design.

The company said if the roll out of the modular units goes ahead it would help “meet the UK’s future power demands and help achieve the country’s net zero targets”.

The spokesperson added: “Rolls-Royce SMRs will be designed with decommissioning and waste management in mind, including a provision to fund the decommissioning of the site.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which oversees the NDA, told The Independent: “Small Modular Reactors offer exciting opportunities to cut costs and build more quickly, ensuring we can bring clean electricity to people’s homes and reduce our exposure to volatile gas prices.

“In working with Rolls-Royce, not only can we maximise British content, create new intellectual property and reinvigorate supply chains, but also position our country as a global leader in innovative nuclear technologies we can potentially export elsewhere.”