Rolls-Royce Chief discusses target for Sustainable Aviation Fuel
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson today unveiled a brand-new energy strategy for the UK as the country grapples with soaring bills and seeks to slash reliance on Russia. Boosting Britain’s nuclear capacity appears to be a key part of the strategy, and within that, Rolls-Royce’s exciting new Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The Government is investing £210million to help develop the innovations, which are said to be much cheaper and easier to deploy than traditional nuclear power stations.
The SMRs are around the size of two football pitches, although the designs are currently in different shapes and sizes.
But they can reportedly power around half a million homes, equivalent to a city the size of Leeds.
This power output is roughly a fifth to a third of the larger more traditional reactors at Hinkley Point C, the project underway in Somerset.
Rolls-Royce SMR CEO Tom Samson said: “The Rolls-Royce SMR remains the fastest route to market for new nuclear deployment in the UK and we welcome this government’s clear commitment to turbocharging nuclear deployment.
“By providing an early commitment and working in series, Rolls-Royce SMRs will be able to contribute to the bold vision set out by the Prime Minister for energy security and decarbonisation.
“Rolls-Royce SMRs offer an affordable, sustainable and secure low carbon future for the UK and an export opportunity to realise the aims of Global Britain if we act now.”
Mr Samson and other representatives from nuclear companies had met with Mr Johnson ahead of the announcement to see what key role he could play in the UK’s strategy.
Rolls-Royce has already secured a £500million cash injection to help build the technology.
The funding came from Qatar, the owners of French oil giant Perenco, US company Exelon Generation, along with the £210million contribution from the Government.
The plan to put this technology on the market has taken a step forward after Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng called on Government regulators to assess the designs of the product.
He said: “We are ready to deliver in the UK and overseas, working in parallel on siting and funding to ensure power from Rolls-Royce SMRs is online as close to 2030 as possible.”
The company is hoping to develop a reactor that can mainly be manufactured in a factory, mass-producing them to help dramatically slash the development cost and make the innovations cheaper and more flexible.
The SMRs are now poised to begin the generic design assessment process, which Mr Kwarteng has called a “significant step in bringing SMRs into existence”.
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The new energy strategy lays how the Government will accelerate the deployment of nuclear.
It is hoped that this will help boost the country’s nuclear capacity, generating 24Gigawatts by 2050, which would account for 25 percent of the projected electricity demand.
The Government’s energy strategy also involves setting up a £120 million Future Nuclear Enabling Fund.
A new Government body, Great British Nuclear, which public funding will pour into, will also immediately be set up to accelerate the nuclear roll-out.
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