Rolls-Royce driving forward mini-reactor dream

United Kingdom-based engineering giant Rolls-Royce has announced plans to become a player in the power generation market by building 16 miniature nuclear reactors around Britain.

The company has founded the UK SMR consortium, which is short for small modular reactor, to lead the project. It will need government approval before it can proceed.

The consortium claims each mini-reactor, which will be delivered ready-to-use from the factory, can generate 440 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power a city the size of Sheffield. The power plants will have a lifespan of 60 years.

The Guardian newspaper said Rolls-Royce claims the project will create 6,000 UK jobs within five years of getting the green light.

The consortium is asking the government to contribute billions of pounds to the project, something the Financial Times predicts will not be a problem because of its neat fit with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 10-point plan for the environment. The FT said the government is expected to chip in between 1.5 billion pounds and 2 billion pounds ($2 billion and $2.6 billion), in part because the mini-reactors will have no direct emissions and therefore help the nation meet its obligations in the fight against climate change.

There could also be export potential in the technology. The United States company Exelon Generation and Czech power company CEZ have already expressed an interest in acquiring mini-reactors from the consortium.

Rolls-Royce has become a leader in mini-reactors having produced them for the UK's nuclear submarines since the 1950s.

Over time, the reactors have become more cost-efficient and, the company says, are now comparable in price to other forms of power.

The Guardian quoted Tom Samson, interim chief executive of UK SMR consortium, as saying: "We have developed a manufacturing and assembly process that will make reliable, low-carbon nuclear power affordable, deliverable, and investable."

He said innovations have brought the cost of the technology down.

"By creating a factory-built power station that rolls off the assembly line, we have radically reduced many construction risks associated with new nuclear power stations; and by using proven nuclear technology alongside standardized and simplified components, we make it much more cheaply," he said.

Sky News said up to 80 percent of the power station components will be made in factories in the Midlands and the North of England, which will also please the government, which is trying to divert more investment toward those areas.

The project could also be a major shot in the arm for Rolls-Royce, which has been hard-hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic and recently announced it will cut 9,000 jobs from its global workforce, with around 6,000 of those in the UK.

The BBC notes the proposed mini-reactors could also help fill an emerging gap in the UK's energy sector because six of the nation's seven working nuclear power plants are scheduled to end production by 2030.

The company claims the mini-reactors will cost around 2 billion pounds each. By comparison, a conventional nuclear plant would cost around 22 billion pounds. However, a conventional plant would produce around six times as much electricity as a mini-reactor.

Several other companies and consortiums around the world are working on mini-reactor projects and some such plants have been made, notably in the US and China.