An industry consortium led by Rolls-Royce secured a £210M contract from the government last year to develop a fleet of mini-reactors after raising a similar amount from private sector funding, backed by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan for a "green industrial revolution" to help meet the government's 2050 net zero carbon target.
The company envisions that the reactors will be built in factories across the U.K. and then assembled on site, reducing the risks and costs of construction of big nuclear power plants, while the main factory would build the heavy pressure vessels that are part of the reactors.
The Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor consortium says the "development and growth of a U.K. nuclear manufacturing base is core to the deployment of Rolls-Royce SMRs."