Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 28, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
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The UK is set to conclude its SMR competition by spring, with major companies competing for significant contracts to boost nuclear energy.
LONDON (Reuters) - The British government's competition to select companies to develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) is on track to reach a decision in the spring, the country's nuclear body said on Friday, launching the final invitation to tender.
Four vendors remain in the competition for what could be government contracts worth billions of pounds: Rolls Royce, Westinghouse, Holtec Britain and GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy - an alliance between General Electric Co and Japan's Hitachi Ltd.
Successive British governments have championed the benefits of SMRs - effectively small-scale nuclear plants - in search of a way to avoid the high upfront costs, planning delays and difficulty of securing investors associated with larger plants.
Earlier in February, Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to free up more sites for nuclear energy developments across England and Wales, hoping to attract private investment to help power energy-hungry development such as artificial intelligence data centres.
(Reporting by William James; Editing by Catarina Demony)
The article discusses the UK's competition to select companies for developing small modular nuclear reactors, concluding in spring.
The competitors include Rolls Royce, Westinghouse, Holtec Britain, and GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy.
SMRs are seen as a solution to the high costs and planning delays associated with larger nuclear plants.
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