Rolls-Royce SMR has chosen three sites in the U.K. for its shortlist of sites to host its first factory for producing components for a fleet of small modular reactors (SMRs). The new factory will manufacture heavy pressure vessels for the SMRs. The final choice of a location for the factory is expected to be announced early next year.
The three sites on the short list are the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) in Sunderland, South Tyneside in Northeast England; Teesworks, Redcar, in Teesside also in Northeast England, and Gateway, Deeside, in North Wales.
Rolls-Royce SMR said that the selection of the three potentials sites was made following a series of visits and further assessment of each of the sites’ suitably to host the factory for the heavy pressure vessels.
The factory is expected to be around two hundred and fifty thousand square feet. It is expected to create two hundred permanent jobs. The estimated cost of the factory will be between one hundred and twenty million dollars and two hundred and forty-two million dollars.
Tom Samson is the CEO of Rolls-Royce SMR. He said, “This is part of the process to build the first of at least three factories that will manufacture components for a fleet of small modular reactors and will present an incredible opportunity for a region of the UK. Our power stations will be built in British factories situated in the north of England or Wales and will generate tens of thousands of long-term highly skilled jobs - accelerating regional economic growth.”
Last July, Roll-Royce SMR announced six possible sites for their planned factories. The six sites select were chosen from over one hundred submissions from local enterprise partnerships and development agencies. The six original short list choices were Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, Richmond in North Yorkshire, Deeside in Wales, Ferrybridge in Yorkshire, Stallingborough in Lincolnshire and Carlisle in Cumbria. In October, Deeside and Teesworks were added after the sites met the shortlist criteria.
The company will decide on the locations early next year after final evaluations and detailed assessments are made against the requirements and criteria for the factory. The factory will manufacture and assemble some of the largest and more complex components of the Rolls-Royce SMR power plant.
The company added that they wanted “To ensure commercial processes move in parallel, negotiations will be initiated when Rolls-Royce SMR has entered formal discussions on deployment with the government.”
The other two factories being planned will manufacture civils modules and mechanical and plumbing (MEP) modules. These modules will be transported to sites and assembled into an operational nuclear power plant.
Rolls-Royce SMR said, “All of the initial responses will be retained, and separate selection processes will be run for the following two factory locations (civils modules and MEP modules).”
The Rolls-Royce SMR design was accepted for Generic Design Assessment review in March. The U.K.'s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy asked the Office for Nuclear Regulation along with the environmental regulators for England and Wales to begin the process.
To minimize the construction phase of the program, the Rolls-Royce SMR is fully modularized with the fifty foot by thirteen foot reactor able to be transported by road, sea or rail. They are hoping for construction to be completed in about five hundred days. The company says that this concept minimizes the onsite time and effort required to construct the plant. About ninety percent of the manufacturing and assembly activities will be carried out in factor conditions.
Last November, Rolls-Royce SMR announced that a siting review had identified a variety of existing nuclear power plant sites in the U.K. that could potentially host its SMRs. Four of these sites are owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and are prioritized.