Rolls-Royce SMR has moved to deepen its supply chain as it pushes ahead with plans to build Europe’s first small modular reactors, naming Škoda JS and Doosan Enerbility as strategic suppliers for key nuclear island components.
The two firms will carry out early-stage work on long-lead items, including the reactor pressure vessel body, alongside design finalisation and preparations for manufacture. The company said the aim is to reduce delivery risk and improve certainty over...
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timing, as it works towards first power from the initial fleet.
Ruth Todd CBE, Rolls-Royce SMR’s operations and supply chain director, said the choice of a dual-supplier model was intended to secure resilience in an area of construction where delays can have major knock-on effects. She described the partners as established names in the nuclear sector with experience of delivering major components for power stations already operating and under construction around the world.
The latest agreements follow a series of recent moves by Rolls-Royce SMR to assemble a wider delivery team. In January, it named Amentum as programme delivery partner to support deployment of the first reactors, adding governance, integration and construction management expertise to the project. In April, the company also set out its modularisation strategy, saying its SMR design is built around a factory-based approach intended to change how nuclear plants are delivered.
The new supplier appointments also build on earlier collaboration with Škoda JS. In August, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to explore component production for a global SMR fleet, with Rolls-Royce SMR pointing to opportunities for the Czech supply chain. In October, the company announced a separate agreement with BWXT covering detailed design work on steam generators, underlining how it is bringing in specialist partners across the programme.
Rolls-Royce SMR said the first units are expected to go to Wylfa in north Wales and Temelín in the Czech Republic, with the possibility of further deployment in other markets later. It has also said it wants to maximise local content in both the UK and Czech Republic, and is actively seeking to connect additional suppliers, including forgings manufacturers, to the programme.
In the UK, the project has already entered a more formal development phase. In April, Rolls-Royce SMR signed a contract with Great British Energy – Nuclear to begin site-specific design and delivery work for the Wylfa scheme, initially planned as three units. A separate early works contract with Czech utility ČEZ has also been agreed for the Temelín site, covering licensing, permitting and site-specific design.
Taken together, the agreements suggest the company is now moving from concept towards industrial execution, with Rolls-Royce SMR seeking to combine nuclear engineering, modular construction and a broader global supplier base to support what it presents as a new model for reactor delivery.
Source: Noah Wire Services
