Great British Nuclear to put £1.8bn worth of mini-nuke contracts up for grabs

Successful bidders will work with winners of delayed SMR design competition

Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Nearly £2bn worth of construction contracts for Britain’s first mini-nuclear power plants will be up for grabs next year as officials prepare sites for the pioneering energy projects.
Great British Nuclear (GBN), the government body tasked with spearheading the development of small modular reactors (SMRs), expects to put the work out for tender between February and July 2025, according to official documents.
The biggest jobs available will be at least two £800m “delivery partner” contracts to manage the construction of the SMRs over a period of 10 years.
Smaller contracts for an “owner’s engineer”, “foundation project management” and “foundation engineering” will also be open to bidding.
They will work with technology companies designing the reactors which will be selected in GBN’s ongoing SMR design competition, which has been delayed multiple times.
Rolls-Royce, GE Hitachi, Westinghouse and Holtec International are still in the running to secure the design contract.
The winning bids are expected to be selected by the spring, with as many as three contracts being awarded.
The approach being taken with SMRs represents a major break from the model used for Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, the only new nuclear plant currently under construction in Britain.
Hinkley is being developed by EDF, the French state energy giant, with the Government only providing support by guaranteeing a price for its power when it switches on in the 2030s.
By comparison, GBN will itself oversee construction of the first SMRs and own them on behalf of taxpayers, a “commercial pipeline” published by the public body suggests.
Meanwhile, separate contracts for an “owner’s engineer”, “foundation project management” and “foundation engineering” – worth £40m, £50m and £15m each respectively – will be put out to tender in February and March.
Further down the line, GBN has indicated that it will invite bidding on contracts worth up to £200m each for the actual construction of the SMRs.
These would commence in 2030 and run to 2035. GBN says it currently expects to put those out to tender in 2028.
On Friday, a GBN spokesman stressed the contract plans were “indicative” only and not set in stone.
GBN has remained tight-lipped about where it intends to build the first SMRs, but it acquired the Wylfa site in Anglesey and Oldbury site in South Gloucester for £160m in March.
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email