Second Deeside site added to UK shortlist of locations earmarked for first small nuclear reactor factory

A second Deeside site has been added to Rolls-Royce’s shortlist of UK locations earmarked for their first small nuclear reactor (SMR) factory.

In July, Rolls-Royce SMR announced its shortlisted locations for the first factory to manufacture components for its small nuclear reactor power station project.

A site named ‘Gateway’ in Deeside was one of the six on the initial UK-wide list, other locations include Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, Richmond in North Yorkshire, Ferrybridge in Yorkshire, Stallingborough in Lincolnshire and Carlisle in Cumbria.

It has now been revealed that two more sites in the UK have met the selection criteria for an SMR component facility including a second in Deeside.

Rolls-Royce has confirmed to Deeside.com that the shortlisted site is at TATA steel in Shotton, it had previously been earmarked by Heathrow Airport to host an offsite construction centre for the now-stalled third runway project.

The two Deeside sites are now being considered alongside each other for the first SMR factory.

Over the next six weeks, a team from Rolls-Royce SMR will visit the locations to gather more information that will assist with a further ‘down-select’ of the factory sites.

David White has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Rolls-Royce SMR and will oversee the work to construct the factories required to deploy a fleet of SMRs, each capable of generating 470MW of clean, low-carbon, affordable and sustainable electricity – enough to power a million homes.

David said: “I’d like to thank the Local Enterprise Partnerships, the Welsh Government and the owners of the shortlisted sites for their continued support and cooperation.

“The overwhelmingly positive response, resulting in more potential sites than we might have hoped for, means we have more information to assess but is vitally important in helping us select the right locations for our factory.”

David added: “We’re also pleased to announce that another two locations – Shotton, Deeside and Teesworks, Redcar – have been added to the shortlist after the sites met the selection criteria.”

Rolls-Royce SMR’s approach is a radically different way of deploying nuclear power stations – where 90% of the components are manufactured in a factory environment.

A factory for the Rolls-Royce SMR programme will bring significant investment, long-term High-skilled jobs and sustainable economic growth for the area.