Three companies have submitted final tenders to supply reactor technology
Great British Nuclear (GBN) is looking to appoint two engineering firms to carry out £600m (€701m, $796m) worth of work on its small modular reactor (SMR) programme.
The government-owned nuclear energy body has put out a tender for two engineers to help with the deployment of SMR technology in the UK by the early 2030s.
The chosen firms will work with GBN, which was set up to oversee the deployment of new nuclear power plants in the UK, to help reach a final investment decision on up to two SMR projects.
GBN said the engineering firms would “provide competent resources to undertake specification, oversight, audit, review and advice for decisions relating to design, scope, budget, risk, delivery and contract compliance”.
The contract value of £600m assumes that GBN will award two engineering contracts, one for each planned SMR project, and the actual value will depend on a number of factors.
While the duration of the contracts has yet to be confirmed, the notice said it was envisaged to be a term of 14 years.
Firms have until 19 September to apply and a decision is expected to be taken next March.
In February GBN announced that it had entered the final stage of its SMR selection process, with a final decision expected this spring.
GE-Hitachi, Holtec, Rolls Royce and Westinghouse Electric were all invited to submit a final tender for the competition. Three of those companies – GE-Hitachi, Holtec, Rolls Royce – have since confirmed they have submitted final tenders.
The UK government has previously said that GBN will select one or more winners of the SMR competition in June.
GBN owns land for potential new nuclear development at both Wylfa on the island of Anglesey – Ynys Môn in Welsh – in north Wales and Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire, southwest England.
In February, prime minister Keir Starmer pledged to put Britain back in the global race for nuclear energy and to reform planning rules to make it easier to build fleets of SMRs in England and Wales.
