Rolls-Royce SMR has been successfully shortlisted in the first stage of the Great British Nuclear (GBN) Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology selection process, marking another significant step towards the first plants being built in the UK.

The shortlist includes the home-grown nuclear technology, Rolls-Royce SMR — a ‘factory-built’ nuclear power plant which will provide enough affordable clean electricity to power a million homes for 60-plus years, helping achieve the UK‘s ‘net zero’ targets.

Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce SMR CEO, said: “The Rolls-Royce SMR is a British solution to the global energy security and decarbonisation challenge. We welcome our shortlisting and are eager to build on this progress, moving quickly to the next stage where we can work to agree a contract for deployment and help the Government reach its ambition to deliver up to 24GWh of nuclear power by 2050.

“We have the only SMR technology in a European regulatory approval process, putting us almost two years ahead of any of our competitors. Securing a domestic contract is vitally important to unlock the enormous global export potential of our clean energy technology.”

A successful outcome from the GBN selection process will result in immediate investment in the UK supply chain and manufacturing sectors, creating thousands of high-skilled, long-term jobs.

With a team of more than 600 people already working for the business in the UK, Rolls-Royce SMR is making good progress through the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process with the nuclear industry’s independent regulators to secure consent for its technology to operate here.