Britain commits $283 million to Rolls-Royce for small nuclear reactors
In this June 27, 2018, photo, the logo of Rolls-Royce is pictured at the World Nuclear Exhibition, the trade fair event for the global nuclear community in Villepinte, near Paris. Reuters-Yonhap
Britain has committed 210 million pounds ($283 million) to help Rolls-Royce build the country's first small modular nuclear reactor, part of a drive to reach net zero carbon emissions.
Hitting this goal by 2050 will require a huge increase in low-carbon power generation such as wind, solar and nuclear, but large-scale new nuclear projects have struggled for funding.
"Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) offer exciting opportunities to cut costs and build more quickly, ensuring we can bring clean electricity to people's homes and cut our already-dwindling use of volatile fossil fuels even further," Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said.
Britain also aims to increase the number clean technology jobs as part of its so-called green industrial revolution and said it is seeking to reduce reliance on fossil fuel amid a global spike in gas prices.
This year's dramatic gas price rise has seen several of Britain's small energy suppliers go bust.
SMRs and can be made in factories, with parts small enough to be transported on trucks and barges and assembled much more quickly and cheaply than large-scale reactors.
The funding will enable the technology to take the next steps through Britain's nuclear regulatory process, and help to identify sites where the mini nuclear plants could be deployed, the government said in a statement.
Rolls Royce Group, BNF Resources UK Limited and Exelon Generation Limited will invest 195 million pounds in Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd, a Special Purpose Vehicle, across three years in the technology, Rolls Royce SMR said.
Rolls-Royce Group will own approximately 80% of Rolls-Royce SMR on the completion of this equity raising, it added.
"The (SMR) business could create up to 40,000 jobs, through UK deployment and export enabled growth," Rolls Royce Chief Executive Warren East said in a statement. ($1 = 0.7414 pounds) (Reuters)