SGE, the European small modular reactor development platform founded in Warsaw in 2019 by Polish billionaire Michał Sołowow, formally submitted an application on 2 July 2026 under the UK’s Advanced Nuclear Framework to build 14 BWRX-300 reactors developed by GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy across three sites in the United Kingdom. The combined fleet capacity stands at 4.2 GW. The estimated investment exceeds £35 billion, entirely funded by private capital.
The plan follows a fleet architecture: the first site will host six units of 300 MW each, with the two subsequent sites hosting four units apiece. One of the sites has already been identified as Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire, a location with a long nuclear history. The other two remain undisclosed, pending the conclusion of ongoing negotiations. SGE has established a dedicated entity, SGE SMR UK Limited, as its operational vehicle in the country. The delivery consortium includes Samsung C&T, Laing O’Rourke, Aecon Group, Google Cloud, Fermi Development, and Etara. The latter has already assessed more than 100 potential UK sites, identifying around 40 as viable for development.
The BWRX-300 is a tenth-generation natural circulation boiling water reactor with a designed operational life of 60 years. The technology is not merely on paper: construction of the first commercial unit is already underway at the Darlington New Nuclear Project in Ontario, Canada, with commissioning expected in 2030. In December 2025, the design cleared the second step of the UK Generic Design Assessment, with British regulators finding no safety concerns that would prevent deployment in the country. SGE holds exclusive rights to the BWRX-300 in nine Central and Eastern European countries, as well as a limited exclusivity position in Germany and the United Kingdom.
The financial model is structured around a Contract for Difference mechanism involving the UK National Wealth Fund, which guarantees a fixed price for electricity generated and shields investors from market volatility. Consumers bear no costs prior to plant commissioning. GE Hitachi estimates that units beyond the first could be completed within 24 to 36 months of the nuclear first concrete pour. Replication is central to SGE’s approach: standardisation and modularisation are the levers CEO Rafał Kasprów is counting on to drive down construction costs and risks. The per-unit cost, once serial production is achieved, is estimated at between £2.2 billion and £2.5 billion. Google Cloud, currently a technology partner, could evolve into a co-investor powering data centres directly from the reactors, with a potential deal value of up to £4.5 billion.
The roadmap is clearly defined. SGE expects the project to enter the Advanced Nuclear Pipeline in November 2026. Final site selection and negotiations on the government support scheme are anticipated by the first half of 2027, with site preparation and regulatory approvals expected to follow within a year, and the first reactor entering commercial operation in 2034. If the timeline holds, the UK project will run alongside SGE’s Polish programme with ORLEN — where the first reactor is expected by 2032 — as well as initiatives already underway in Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Hungary. The European SMR market is taking concrete shape, and the UK is positioning itself as one of its most active hubs, with multiple programmes advancing in parallel: in addition to SGE, Rolls-Royce SMR is backed by the National Wealth Fund, while Centrica is pursuing X-Energy’s Xe-100 reactors at Hartlepool.
