SMRs | GB NUCLEAR for SMR business GBN opens up The UK has up to £20bn to invest in SMR designs that can be
used at ‘various sites’ but has yet to propose new nuclear locations. Opinions are divided on whether a new ‘delivery body’ can actually deliver
THE UK IS PUSHING AHEAD with plans for new nuclear reactors and to help deliver them it has launched Great British Nuclear (GBN). The new organisation has £20bn (US$25.6bn) on offer to give industry and investors the confidence they need to deliver, at speed, a programme of new nuclear projects beyond Sizewell C. GBN is a so-called ‘arms-length’ body (ie directed by but
separate from government) intended to boost the delivery of new nuclear. The body has been launched with interim chair Simon Bowen and chief executive Gwen Parry-Jones and its ‘sponsoring department’ is the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). Key among GBN’s activities will be support for new
small modular reactor (SMR) designs and a site selection process for SMR projects. It began the process of identifying SMR technologies to be supported with market intelligence gathering about reactor designs, which concluded in June 2023. That was followed in July with the launch of a £20bn competitive process to select SMR Technology Partners to design, develop, manufacture, supply, install and commission “various products, equipment or services related to the key plant required for SMR nuclear generation, including but not limited to reactor, steam
generation, turbine, electrical generation, as well as the integrated design of these component parts”. The Technology Partners will be responsible for “delivery
to site of a designed and tested solution, a complete set of interface specifications, and installation and commissioning of the solution”. A tender for Technology Partners opened on the government portal, closing on 23 August. Effectively the tender is a ‘down-selection’ of technologies, which GBN said would be completed in Autumn 2023. GBN says it may make up to four awards, depending on the quality of tenders, as well as affordability and value for money considerations. The Procurement Process will take the form of a
Competitive Procedure, with Negotiation. Applicants who pass a qualification stage will be invited to submit an initial tender. Up to four applicants will be invited to negotiate following evaluation of initial tenders, after which they will be invited to submit a ‘best and final offer’.
The next phase will launch “as quickly as possible”. This will be a contract notice setting out an intention to enter into a development contract with successful bidders. They will be offered:
Above: Moltex is to develop its FLEX reactor 42 | August 2023 |
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