Latest news with #RollsRoyceSMR
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
What will be in Britain's $2.7 trillion spending review?
LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rachel Reeves will reveal her first multi-year spending review on Wednesday, dividing up more than 2 trillion pounds ($2.7 trillion) of public money between her ministerial colleagues and setting their budgets until 2029. Below is what the government has already announced in the days preceding the announcement: Reeves will allocate 86 billion pounds to fund research and development. The package, funding everything from new drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries to artificial intelligence breakthroughs, will be worth more than 22.5 billion pounds a year by 2029/30, driving new jobs and economic growth, the government said. The government will invest a further 14.2 billion pounds to build the Sizewell C nuclear plant in eastern England. The funding takes the total government commitment to 17.8 billion pounds, with 3.6 billion invested before the review. It also pledged 2.5 billion pounds for a programme to develop a fleet of small modular nuclear plants over the next four years and named Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred bidder. Britain says new nuclear projects will replace ageing plants, boost energy security, help it reach climate targets and create new jobs. Reeves has committed 15.6 billion pounds towards transport projects in cities outside London that have long suffered from underinvestment. Most of the investment was earmarked by the previous, Conservative government. Reeves has reversed her previously-announced cuts to winter fuel payments to pensioners, a move that would restore payments to 9 million pensioners and cost the government 1.25 billion pounds. Britain will invest more than 6 billion pounds in its submarine building capacity, supporting firms such as defence group BAE Systems and engineering multinational Rolls-Royce. The investment, which will cover the four-year spending review period, will help companies deliver the increase in submarine production rate announced by the government. Tax rises are not an option as Reeves has said she only intends to change tax policy once a year, and she has barely any room to borrow more without breaking what she has often said is an "ironclad" commitment to new fiscal rules. Reeves has promised to increase spending on policing in the review, but has not disclosed by how much. She is also expected to announce an investment of 4 billion pounds to build new prisons as the government scrambles to tackle an overcrowding crisis. The finance minister is expected to confirm 39 billion pounds in funding for a new programme to build affordable homes over the next decade - almost doubling the annual amount spent on this compared with current support. ($1 = 0.7399 pounds)
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Labour's nuclear bet: big promises, but bigger questions remain unanswered
The government's decision to invest £14.2bn in nuclear energy, on top of existing funds, marks a return to significant state funding of nuclear power after Hinkley Point C, financed by the private sector, was dogged by delays and cost overruns. It is also a decisive shift in energy policy. Ministers have high hopes of a nuclear energy renaissance. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, described the prospect of a new reactor in Suffolk, Sizewell C, combined with new money for modular reactor development and fusion research, as a 'golden age'. This was a striking choice of words from the greenest voice in the cabinet. The Climate Change Committee's latest advice to the government took a more restrained view of nuclear, which drew industry ire. Mr Miliband's commitment to renewable energy is not in doubt. The government has made good progress on wind and solar – although the cancellation of an offshore wind project was a step backwards. Nuclear is meant to complement support for renewables and speed up the transition away from gas. That, at least, is the theory, and Labour's bet reflects a broader shift across Europe. The other part of the calculation made by ministers including Rachel Reeves – whose department made the announcement – is jobs. Sizewell C is expected to employ 10,000 people, including 1,500 apprentices. Rolls-Royce SMR has beaten off competition to become the first business in the UK to try to build reactors out of factory-made modules. While this technology remains unproven, the UK has a stronger track record of this kind of manufacture than it does on big, site-specific infrastructure. With this vote of confidence in British business, Labour hopes to gain its own boost from voters, and take on climate sceptics at the same time. But one need not be anti-nuclear to see that big questions remain unresolved. Cost is the most obvious one, with nuclear energy far more expensive than wind – although the price of the latter is rising. Somerset's Hinkley Point C could cost double the original projected price. Ministers seem convinced that things will be better in future, but it is hard to see why. Waste and safety are the other two perennial problems with nuclear that are often downplayed. Currently, much of the UK's existing nuclear waste is stored at Sellafield in Cumbria. But safety risks have been raised about this site, which is not a permanent solution. Another issue is the relationship with defence and the way that investment in civil nuclear schemes can provide a hidden subsidy to the military. A further question is the role of tech companies. The initial decision to invest in small modular reactors (SMRs) appeared to coincide with efforts to court AI businesses. Datacentres' seemingly unlimited appetite for power has also spurred Donald Trump to throw his weight behind new nuclear. In a climate emergency, there is a case for nuclear energy as part of a decarbonised energy system. But nuclear alone won't deliver net zero; it must be part of a wider, coherent strategy that includes energy efficiency and renewables. Ministers must, for example, have stricter green building rules to get to net zero. The Tories' lax approach to regulation, despite their commitment to a legally binding climate target, was shameful. What is clear is that ministers need to explain this week's decisions in more detail than they have so far.
New York Times
10-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
British Government to Spend $19 Billion on New Nuclear Plant
The British government said on Tuesday that it would spend as much as 14.2 billion pounds, or about $19 billion, on constructing a nuclear power station, a project that is expected to create 10,000 jobs and help light up six million homes. The decision likely means that the giant plant called Sizewell C, whose site on the east coast of England was first identified by the government in 2009, will receive a go-ahead. Much of the funding will come from the government. EDF, the French state-owned energy group, will build the plant and be part owner. Britain hopes to attract other funding. Nuclear power plants can cost tens of billions of dollars to build, but they have regained favor in recent years in Britain and elsewhere because they produce large volumes of steady electric power with few emissions. The plants are also viewed as way to enhance energy security. The emergence of artificial intelligence, and the growing demand for data centers to run those systems, has also raised the appeal of nuclear energy. Nuclear power accounted for about 14 percent of Britain's electricity supply last year. While announcing funding for the Sizewell plant, the British government also said it had chosen Rolls-Royce SMR, a unit of the aircraft engine maker, as the 'preferred bidder' to build so-called small modular nuclear reactors in partnership with a state company called Great British Energy. The government said it was planning to spend 2.5 billion pounds on these smaller power plants, which are being designed to be largely built in factories rather than on work sites, theoretically cutting labor costs. Britain also said it would spend a similar amount on so-called nuclear fusion, a technology that could produce large volumes of clean energy if it ever reaches commercial viability. 'We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance, ' Britain's energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said in a statement. EDF, the French utility, has experienced major challenges at the other large nuclear power plant under construction in Britain, known as Hinkley Point C, whose completion has been delayed many years while costs have soared. The final price tag could exceed 40 billion pounds. Proponents of Sizewell C say that the experience of building Hinkley Point will lower the cost of the new plant. Still, the final price tag is likely to run into tens of billions of pounds. The new plant will be near Sizewell B, which began operating in 1995 and was the last nuclear power station completed in Britain. The country has a strong rating in nuclear research, but industry experts say that during its long hiatus, Britain's skills in nuclear construction atrophied, a key reason for the higher costs. The nuclear industry in the United States has also encountered cost overruns. Still, the British government sees nuclear plants as an attractive option because electric power demand is expected to rise and the existing plants are aging and being gradually shut down.
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
UK selects Rolls-Royce SMR to build small nuclear modular reactors
LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - Britain has selected Rolls-Royce SMR to build the country's first small modular nuclear reactors as part of its plan to speed up the decarbonisation of the power network from the mid-2030s. Successive British governments have championed SMRs - effectively small-scale nuclear plants - as a way of avoiding the high upfront costs, planning delays and difficulties of securing investment for traditional nuclear power stations. The government on Tuesday pledged over 2.5 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) for the small modular reactor programme. Rolls-Royce SMR will enter a strategic development partnership with state-owned Great British Energy - Nuclear following approvals by regulators, it said. Rolls-Royce SMR was named as preferred bidder following a two-year competition with a multi-billion-pound technology contract likely to follow. The company is majority owned by Rolls-Royce, the FTSE 100 engineer which makes the systems which power Britain's fleet of nuclear submarines. ($1 = 0.7396 pounds)
Reuters
20-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
New York seeks to lead in advanced reactor deployment
Summary New York has taken steps to become a hub for small modular reactor (SMR) development by releasing a nuclear strategy and requesting federal funding amid rising electricity demand. February 20 - New York Governor Kathy Hochul launched a Master Plan for Responsible Advanced Nuclear Development on January 14, which will be guided by a blueprint by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) published on the same day. The announcements follow a Request for Information (RFI) to gauge market interest in developing advanced nuclear energy technologies that New York issued in November. The blueprint lists large (AP1000s) and small light-water reactors, liquid and solid-fueled molten salt reactors, sodium fast reactors and high temperature gas reactors as potential technologies that could be deployed to meet the state's energy needs. NYSERDA also included fusion energy as an option. 'New York has been working on this plan for quite a while, but they accelerated it and created a blueprint to intentionally try to not miss the moment of extreme demand growth,' Adam Stein, director of nuclear energy innovation at the Breakthrough Institute, told Reuters Events. Driven by strong demand from data centers and other large load customers, U.S. electricity demand is expected to increase by 3% annually for the rest of the decade – a rate of growth not seen since the 1990s. According to NYSERDA, New York's power generation must at least triple, from 37 GW in 2022, as demand is forecast to surge by between 50% and 90% over the next two decades. CHART: Forecast US data center electricity demand Also in January, NYSERDA and Constellation Energy requested funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to attain an early site permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build one or more advanced nuclear reactors at Constellation's Nine Mile Point Clean Energy Center on the shore of Lake Ontario. 'There is a lot of speculation on which technology they plan to use, but it isn't necessary to identify one at this stage of site planning," Stein said. Constellation holds a minority interest in Rolls Royce SMR development in Europe but that may not be an indicator on their technology preference in the U.S., he said. 'NYSERDA might prefer to be second or third in building a design that already has first-mover commitments,' Stein added. Through the blueprint, New York is telling developers of advanced nuclear reactors and investors that it wants to engage and cooperate with them, while the partnership with Constellation signals that there will be proactive support for the sector, according to Judi Greenwald, executive director of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance. 'All of the above' approach Deep-pocketed tech companies are investing billions in SMR companies such as X-Energy, Oklo and Kairos Power as they race to secure more generation capacity for their power-hungry data centers. Join us at Reuters Events SMR & Advanced Reactor 2025 and network with over 600 utilities, developers, financiers, technology suppliers and regulators. Advanced nuclear technologies are still in the exploratory stage, so it's too early to know to what the extent they will be deployed in New York, Doreen Harris, NYSERDA president and CEO, told Reuters Events. Zach Koshgarian, an analyst at the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, said that New York 'is looking at an all of the above nuclear approach — considering a lot of different types of technologies,' including large nuclear reactors. 'The point of putting out the blueprint and the RFI is to gauge interest within New York State, and to see how advanced nuclear energy could be applied to help meet climate and clean energy commitments,' Koshgarian told Reuters Events. The plans of Micron, a microchip fabricator, to build a manufacturing campus to make dynamic random-access memory chips in central New York, which will use 100% renewable electricity, underline the state's need for increasing generating capacity. The Micron facility is expected to use 16 gigawatt-hours per year when completed, according to the Sierra Club environmental group, which is nearly equivalent to the total generated by the two nuclear reactors at Constellation's nearby Nine Mile Point nuclear generating station. For exclusive nuclear insights, sign up to our newsletter. Microsoft and Amazon Web Services signed agreements with nuclear power plant owners to supply electricity to data centers in neighboring Pennsylvania in 2024. If New York wants to attract large data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities, there needs to be an increase in emissions-free generating capacity, according to Stein and Koshgarian. Bolstering nuclear capacity will also help New York meet its aggressive climate goals. The state has pledged to have a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040. 'We know that we are going to need tens of gigawatts of these types of projects that we describe as dispatchable, emissions free resources that can be very complementary to renewable resources that we are deploying also at a large scale,' Harris said. CHART: New York power generation by technology (October 2024) With 3.3 GW of capacity, nuclear power accounted for roughly 22% of New York's utility-scale net generation in 2023, which is down from 34% in 2019 before the Indian Point nuclear power plant was shut down, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 'A few years ago, New York was thinking more about closing [nuclear] plants than building new plants, and I would now say that has really turned around, and people are realizing the value of these existing plants,' Greenwald said. 'I think most of these will be relicensed, not closed, because they provide so much clean, firm power.' Nuclear renaissance President Donald Trump is expected to continue with the ambitious goals to expand nuclear capacity set out by the Biden administration. Last November, the Biden administration pledged to more than triple U.S. nuclear capacity by deploying 200 GW of net new nuclear capacity by 2050. Strategies to overcome cost hurdles for new nuclear - download our webinar. Trump's Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, a former Oklo board member, has pledged to promote next-generation nuclear technology to help unleash a 'long-awaited American nuclear renaissance.' Other states have also announced plans to support advanced nuclear power developers. In November, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Public Utility Commission of Texas released a report stating that additional funding and regulatory changes could make the state a global leader in advanced nuclear energy. Wyoming, Michigan and Virginia are also trying to attract nuclear investments. And New York is working with other states to promote the development of advanced nuclear projects. The National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) launched the Advanced Nuclear First Mover Initiative on February 5. As part of this effort, New York and nine other states pledged to develop policies that will cut the cost of building advanced nuclear plants. 'If states are aligned and agree on a standardized advanced reactor design, this could make the idea of orderbooks of nuclear reactors come to fruition. The state collaboration will also be critical to achieving a learning-by-doing model and creating economies of scale, which will all help drive down the cost of new nuclear,' Koshgarian said.
