Rolls-Royce is hoping to secure a number of sites for the rollout of a fleet of small modular reactors with potential locations at existing disused nuclear sites around the country.

The sites are managed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which has a remit to clean up nuclear sites and is responsible for a significant portfolio of land now under consideration for the new power plants.

Rolls-Royce has said the design of the modular nuclear facilities would see them building parts of the power stations on a central production line, before they are then transported to sites across the country for assembly. This would help speed up the production process and keep costs down – provided they win contracts to provide them to a number of sites.