Great British Energy-Nuclear Chooses Engineering Partner for Future Wales SMR Project
The United Kingdom is pushing its own small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear program forward through new contracts for building power plants.
State-owned Great British Energy-Nuclear has awarded a $406 million engineering contract to Litmus Nuclear for long-term deployment of Rolls-Royce SMR technology at the projected Wylfa site in North Wales. Litmus Nuclear is a joint venture between engineering firm Amentum and Cavendish Nuclear.
No western nation has yet built or commissioned an SMR plant, but they offer the baseload and carbon-free generation of utility-scale nuclear with smaller and less expensive footprints in both capacity and location. The U.S. Trump Administration also is pushing government support for developing next-gen SMR technologies that would eventually deploy reactors of 30 MW to 300 MW in capacity to meet future load from cloud-based computing and industrial growth.
The commitment in the UK to building the SMR sites at Wylfa could help Great British Energy-Nuclear secure a final investment decision. Amentum already has industry credibility within the UK nuclear sector for its work at the Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C facilities.
"This award recognizes Amentum’s expertise to accelerate the global expansion and revitalization of nuclear energy,” said Loren Jones, senior vice president and head of Amentum’s Energy & Environment-International business, in a statement. “Amentum will draw upon our expertise in nuclear science and engineering to provide independent technical and delivery assurance, helping GBE-N advance the SMR program and bolster the UK’s energy security and industrial base.”
In November 2025, the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced Wylfa, on the island of Anglesey/Ynys Mon, as the site for the country’s SMR’s. The 470 MWe reactors are smaller and designed to be built quickly as compared to some traditional nuclear power stations.
Rolls-Royce SMR is contracting with Siemens Energy for supply of conventional technology serving small nuclear projects projected over the next decade. Siemens Energy will be the sole supplier of steam turbines, generators and other auxiliary systems for UK-based Rolls-Royce SMR’s Generation 3+ modular nuclear power plants.
The U.K. and U.S. are hardly alone in pursuing future SMR capacity to meet AI and industrial computing demand growth. Last month, the European Commission announced strategies aimed at developing small modular reactor (SMR) projects in Europe over the next decade and beyond.
The commission is ready to start with 200 million Euros (or $230 million US) of investment in support of an initial SMR rollout for commercial power plants.
About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
Rod Walton has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He 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.
Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.
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. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023
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.