Rolls-Royce will in the "coming weeks" announce the consortium it has formed to launch a small modular reactor in the UK, a spokesman for the British company told World Nuclear News today. The consortium could provide a £100 billion ($1.28 billion) boost to the UK economy because the companies involved are either UK-owned or have a strong UK presence, the spokesman added.
The British character of the consortium is important, the spokesman said, because the jobs "will be rooted here" which will give a "significant boost" to the UK's nuclear supply chain and export potential. This is particularly relevant, he said, in view of Prime Minister Theresa May's announcement yesterday that the UK will begin the formal Brexit negotiation process by the end of March 2017. The timing on triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty means the UK looks set to leave the European Union by summer 2019.
Other participants in the UK's SMR competition include French-owned EDF Energy and its Chinese partner CNNC, Westinghouse and the US developer NuScale Power.