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Business|Britain Gives Go-Ahead to Smaller Nuclear Reactor in Wales
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/business/uk-nuclear-power-plant.html
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The government pledged 2.5 billion pounds for initial site work, but the decision to build a small, modular design may disappoint others, including the U.S. nuclear industry.
By Stanley Reed
Stanley Reed, who covers energy and the environment, reported from London.
Nov. 12, 2025, 7:00 p.m. ET
Britain will back a modular nuclear power station for Anglesey Island in northern Wales, ending years of uncertainty over the fate of what is considered the country’s best nuclear site.
The decision, which was announced Thursday morning in London, appears to be an effort to create a British nuclear champion and a move to increase the government’s role in the economy, especially the energy sector.
The Wales plant would also be the first of this type of nuclear plant to be built in Britain. Modular designs are promoted as cheaper and quicker to construct.
Rolls-Royce SMR, an affiliate of the jet engine maker that is one of Britain’s few remaining large industrial companies, will design the power station at Wylfa, a rocky headland on the island that overlooks the Irish Sea.
Rolls-Royce is trying to parlay its experience designing and building the reactors for Britain’s nuclear submarines into a new business line. It has brought in investors, including the Qatar Investment Authority, the Persian Gulf emirate’s sovereign wealth fund; Constellation, an American utility; and CEZ, the Czech Republic’s power company.
The Wales plant will consist of three units, known as small modular reactors, or SMRs, whose power output will add up to a little less than half that of one of the current generation of giant power stations.
