Next-Gen Nuclear in Europe: Rolls-Royce SMR Moves Forward with Partnerships
No small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear plants are currently under construction in the western side of the world, but multiple nations and countries are collaborating to try accelerating future power plant initiatives to be operational in the next decade.
Rolls-Royce SMR has selected engineering firm Amentum as its program delivery partner on future projects in the United Kingdom and Czech Republic. German-owned Rolls-Royce has announced goals of delivering close to 1.5 GW of carbon-free small nuclear to the British grid.
The company also is working with partners such as Siemens and BWXT on other components within the SMR power generation framework.
In partnership with Rolls-Royce SMR, Amentum will deploy its full nuclear life cycle experience to oversee multi-functional program execution and integrated planning to support the on-time and on-budget delivery of SMR-generated power.
“This partnership supplements our existing capabilities with specialist expertise, geographical reach and provides access to the breadth of Amentum’s wider supply chain,” said Ruth Todd CBE, Rolls-Royce SMR’s operations and supply chain director, in a statement. “It ensures we are equipped to deliver our programs in the UK, Czech Republic, in Sweden and globally with confidence, scale and robust delivery assurance. The Amentum–Rolls-Royce SMR collaboration advances our deployment plans significantly.”
Nuclear energy is baseload and carbon-free power generation at the point of use, and many companies see it as a sustainable and resilient resource to meet future artificial intelligence training, cloud-based computing and industrial automation demand growth. At the same time, no western nation has yet built an SMR plant, which are designed to be less expensive and safer than conventional reactor plants and yet still carry high anticipated costs of construction per GWh.
Amentum was part of a consortium of supply chain companies, which started working with Rolls-Royce in 2016, to develop a new kind of modular power station to meet the growing need for nuclear generated electricity. Amentum is supported by supply chain partners Turner & Townsend, Hochtief, Mace Consult and Unipart.
Rolls-Royce is one of numerous power generators creating new units around development of SMRs. GE Vernova-Hitachi Nuclear is another legacy reactor builder doing so, as is Westinghouse.
SMR startups pursuing future supply deals with hyperscalers include TerraPower, X-energy, NuScale Power and Natura Resources, among others. The Trump Administration DOE in the U.S. selected 10 companies to pursue next-gen nuclear milestones by this summer.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently reviewing numerous applications for SMRs. Many of these companies are working with data center hyperscalers and industrial firms on future projects.
About the Author
EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is head of content for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
He can be reached at [email protected].
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.