Rolls-Royce to unveil funding for smaller nuclear reactor - report

Rolls-Royce and a consortium of investors are close to announcing funding for a small-scale nuclear reactor, it was reported on Monday.

According to the BBC, the engineering firm is set to confirm that the as-yet unidentified consortium will back plans for the project as early as Tuesday.

Should it go ahead, the deal is expected to be backed by government, which has previously said it would provide £210m in funding if that could be matched by private capital.

Rolls-Royce, which on Monday completed the sale of its civil nuclear instrumentation and control business, has yet to comment on the report. The sale did not include either Rolls-Royce UK civil nuclear business or its small modular reactor (SMR) activities.

SMRs, which are capable of generating around 500 megawatts of power, are not substitutes for full-scale nuclear plants, which produce around 3 gigawatts of power.

They are, however, considerably cheaper, with SMRs costing around £2bn in contrast to the £20bn it will cost to build the full-scale plant Hinkley Point in Somerset. The expected expansion of Sizewell in Suffolk is also expected to cost around £20bn. Their size allows SMRs to be built in a controlled factory setting and installed in parts, thereby reducing both risk and costs, the BBC said.

As at 1015 GMT, shares in the blue chip were largely flat at 142.3p.