Rolls-Royce SMR and Great British Energy – Nuclear have signed the contract formally launching the design and delivery of the UK’s first three small modular reactors at the Wylfa site on Anglesey, North Wales. Work can begin immediately. The deal had been in the pipeline for months: Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as preferred supplier in June 2025, following a competitive tender process that lasted two years.
Public funding is substantial. The National Wealth Fund is committing up to £599 million to support reactor development, while the UK government has already allocated £2.6 billion in the 2025 Spending Review to underpin the delivery of the full programme. Chancellor Rachel Reeves described the move as an investment that strengthens the country’s energy security and builds “a new generation of homegrown nuclear technology.” The rhetoric is familiar, but the numbers are real.
The agreement allows Rolls-Royce SMR to begin site-specific engineering, initiate the regulatory approval process and place orders for critical components with the supply chain. The three units, once operational, will generate at least 1.4 GWe — enough to meet the electricity needs of around three million homes for more than sixty years. The approach is based on standardised, factory-based modular manufacturing, with 90% of production expected to take place at UK facilities. The stated goal is to reduce delivery risks and cut construction timelines compared with large conventional nuclear plants.
On the jobs front, Rolls-Royce SMR and its supply chain partners expect to create 3,000 jobs directly at the Wylfa site and a further 5,000 across the country. The programme is estimated to contribute up to $73 billion to the British economy between 2025 and 2105. CEO Chris Cholerton highlighted that the contract makes Rolls-Royce SMR the only company in the world with firm commitments for multiple SMR units in Europe: three at Wylfa and up to six in the Czech Republic.
Demand for clean, reliable power — driven by the surge in data centres linked to artificial intelligence — is pushing SMR technology into a role that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago. Keir Starmer’s Labour government confirmed Wylfa as the chosen site back in November 2025, embedding the project within a broader strategy that includes AI development zones in Wales. If timelines are met, the reactors are expected to come online in the second half of the 2030s. For Europe’s nuclear sector, this marks the first SMR programme with a signed contract, an assigned site and secured funding. A concrete starting point, not just a promise.
