UK Selects Rolls-Royce to Build First Small Modular Reactors

(Bloomberg) -- The UK chose Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc to provide technology for the country’s first small modular reactors, or SMRs, billed as a cheaper and easier way to boost nuclear power.

The decision concludes a competition launched almost two years ago. Along with a separate announcement Tuesday that the UK will invest £14.2 billion ($19.2 billion) in a much larger atomic project in Suffolk, it’s part of the government’s effort to usher in a “golden age” for nuclear, a power source deemed critical to the country’s energy and climate goals.

Rolls-Royce beat out a short-list of companies vying to provide SMR technology, including a tie-up between GE Vernova Inc. and Hitachi Ltd. Shares in the London-based company rose as much as 2.7%.

The initiative will see Rolls-Royce build three SMR units in the UK. It was also selected last year as a supplier of modular reactors to the Czech Republic.

“It is a vote of confidence in our unique nuclear capabilities, which will be recognized by governments around the world,” Chief Executive Officer Tufan Erginbilgic said in a statement.

The company’s work in the industry extends to so-called micro-nuclear reactors, which are typically smaller than SMRs. It’s in talks with potential partners to send such technology to the moon, with a view to supporting human habitation there and supplying propulsion for further space exploration.

(Updates with shares in third paragraph, company comment in fifth.)

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