Holtec and EDF submit UK SMR project proposal

The two companies have also signed Heads of Terms to establish a joint venture to advance the project at the former coal power station site, which has existing grid infrastructure and which stopped generating electricity in 2019.

In September last year, Holtec announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with EDF Energy and real estate partner Tritax Management to work together to develop its SMR-300 small modular reactors (SMRs) at Cottam to provide power to new data centres on the site. The partners said the project would also enable foreign direct investment into the UK, including into nuclear fuel fabrication and services by Framatome and turbine manufacture by Arabelle Solutions. The 1 GW data centre project is targeted to come online by the end of the decade, with the SMR element becoming operational in the 2030s.

Rick Springman, President of Holtec International, said: "This submission represents an important milestone for the project and for advanced nuclear energy in Great Britain. Holtec plans to substantially expand its presence in the UK with a significantly larger operation centre and is evaluating a manufacturing plant to build nuclear equipment in the country."

Simone Rossi, CEO of EDF UK, said: "We are delighted to be working with Holtec International on the development of small modular reactors in the UK. The Cottam project supports the UK government's ambition to expand nuclear capacity and will facilitate significant re-development of a region that has given so much to the UK through its coal heritage."

Holtec's SMR-300 small modular reactor (SMR) has completed stage 2 of the UK's Generic Design Assessment process, confirming that no fundamental safety, security, safeguards or environmental protection shortfalls with the design had been identified that would prevent its deployment in Great Britain.

A further period of detailed design assessment will still be needed to be carried out by the regulators, as part of a site-specific development.

Background

Holtec has been developing its SMR unit since 2011. The SMR-300 is a pressurised water reactor producing about 300 MW of electrical power or 1050 MW of thermal power for process applications.

The UK project using SMR-300s is slated to be a second-of-a-kind deployment, to follow on from Holtec's plans to deploy two of the SMRs - named Pioneer 1 and 2 - at the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station site in Michigan in the US in a joint venture with Hyundai Engineering & Construction. The Pioneer reactors are planned to be brought online in the early 2030s.

Holtec's US construction permit application is under review by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with pre-construction work taking place at the site.

Holtec says that "both projects will benefit from growing cooperation between the UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission - with the aim of regulators working collaboratively to deliver benefits across the Pioneer and Cottam projects and help to ensure true second of kind deployment in the UK".

The UK currently has a government-backed scheme to deploy its first small modular reactors at Wylfa in North Wales. That scheme is to feature at least three Rolls-Royce SMRs, which was the technology selected after an official UK government contest. A final investment decision on that scheme is expected to be taken in 2029.