Rolls-Royce boss Tufan Erginbilgic says ministers must commit to small nuclear reactors
The UK must become a world leader in building small nuclear power plants after we squandered the opportunity to be at the forefront of the wind power revolution, according to the boss of Rolls-Royce.
Tufan Erginbilgic said Britain ‘missed a trick’ to build offshore wind turbines when the sector was taking off in the 1990s and 2000s.
‘The supply chain development could have been in the UK but some other countries went faster and it is somewhere else,’ he said.
Erginbilgic, who has led Rolls since the start of 2023, said that a new type of power station known as a small modular reactor (SMR) has ‘potential to build’ an industry from scratch.
Rolls is working on an SMR design based on its technology that powers nuclear submarines.
The Government wants a fleet of SMRs in the UK in the 2030s and is selecting two firms to build demonstration reactors.
Erginbilgic made the comments last week as Rolls revealed record first-half profits and reinstated its dividend for the first time since the pandemic.
On Friday Rolls said it would hand £700 worth of shares to all staff as it celebrated a successful first 18 months under Erginbilgic.
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