Rolls-Royce has won a £4.8 billion contract to build Britain's first fleet of small modular reactors, marking the single largest industrial investment in the country's nuclear sector since the commissioning of Sizewell B in 1995.
The agreement, signed with Great British Nuclear, covers the construction of six SMR units across three sites in northern England and Wales. Each reactor will generate 470 megawatts of clean electricity — enough to power approximately 450,000 homes.
"This is a defining moment for British engineering," said the Rolls-Royce CEO. "We are building a new industry from scratch, and it will be world-leading."
The contract is expected to create 40,000 direct and indirect jobs over the next decade, with a significant portion in regions that have historically struggled with industrial decline. The first reactor is scheduled to begin generating power by 2032.
Shares in Rolls-Royce rose 8.2 per cent on the announcement, extending a remarkable recovery that has seen the stock quintuple from its pandemic-era lows. Analysts at Deutsche Bank upgraded the company to a strong buy, citing the SMR programme as a "generational growth catalyst."
