Holtec International has confirmed that it has submitted a final tender to Great British Nuclear (GBN) to develop and deploy a small modular reactor (SMR) design in the UK by the early 2030s.

A spokesman for the US company, which has a British subsidiary, confirmed the move on 14 April and said “we will have a formal announcement in the coming days”. Holtec’s main technology is the SMR-300. It is also developing the smaller SMR-160.

Holtec becomes the third company out of four on a shortlist to submit a final tender. The shortlist was part of the UK’s SMR selection process.

UK-based Rolls-Royce SMR and US-based GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) both said in separate statements recently that they had submitted final tenders – Rolls-Royce for its 470-MW Rolls-Royce SMR and GEH for its 300-MW BWRX-300 reactor designs.