A consortium led by Rolls-Royce has been awarded £18 million of government funding to support its £500 million project to design a first-of-a-kind small modular reactor (SMR).
A working model is expected to be up and running by the early 2030s.
The grant has been made as part of the third wave of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and will be more than matched with private-sector investment from the consortium itself and third parties. The funding is subject to a final investment decision by the consortium.
As the name suggests, SMRs are smaller than conventional nuclear reactors but can be pre-fabricated in modules before being combined onsite to form larger plants. Advocates claim that building a larger number of smaller reactors in controlled factory conditions can reduce the cost of nuclear power.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) also confirmed that four research and development grants of up to £10 million each will be made available for the second phase of its advanced modular reactor (AMR) programme.
Grants of up to £300,000 were awarded to eight companies to undertake feasibility studies for the first phase of the programme. Further funding will be awarded based on an evaluation of these studies.
BEIS said the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency will additionally receive £5 million to modernise the generic design assessment process and prepare themselves for future licensing decisions on SMRs and AMRs.