North gears up to make parts for Rolls-Royce nuclear reactors: Sunderland, Teesside and Deeside in North Wales shortlisted as potential locations
Rolls-Royce has shortlisted Sunderland, Teesside and Deeside in North Wales as potential locations for its first factory supplying parts for mini nuclear reactors.
The engineering giant will choose one as the site for a £100m-£200m facility expected to create more than 200 jobs, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
It is a major boost for Rolls-Royce’s plans to build around 30 Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), with the first powering homes within the decade.
Ambitious plans: SMRs are small stations the size of two football pitches – around a tenth of the size of a normal nuclear plant – with the capacity to power a million homes
SMRs are small stations the size of two football pitches – around a tenth of the size of a normal nuclear plant – with the capacity to power a million homes.
Rolls-Royce will build at least three factories making SMR parts in what Tom Samson, boss of the division, said is ‘an incredible opportunity for a region of the UK’.
He added: ‘Our power stations will be built in British factories situated in the North of England or Wales and will generate tens of thousands of long-term highly skilled jobs – accelerating regional economic growth.’
A source said Teesside, which has the UK’s only freeport that is operating, looks ‘promising’.
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