The Czech Republic plans to take part in UK-based Rolls-Royce SMR’s small modular reactor programme with a decision on “significant” investment to be made in several weeks, trade and industry minister Lukas Vlcek told state broadcaster Radio Prague International.

Vlcek said in an interview that being involved in the SMR sector presents “a huge window of opportunity” and “we are in a situation where we have a very broad window of opportunity, not only in nuclear energy but also in other sectors such as chip and semiconductor technologies”.

He added: “But if we don’t take advantage of this window, it could be a huge economic loss for us.”