In this episode I meet Alan Woods, the Director of Strategy and Business Development at Rolls Royce SMR which stands for Small Modular Reactors.
Rolls Royce plans to use tried and tested small nuclear reactor technology as the heart of a factory built series of standardised modules which can be transported by road and then rapdily assembled into complete working power stations. It’s an approach in sharp contrast to existing nuclear plants which are built on site and face delays due to weather and many other variables which can all contribute to rising costs.
If it gets government approval, Rools Royce will build at least one SMR a year, each costing £2.8 billion and able to generate 470 Megawatts of electricity, enough to power a city the size of Leeds, or over 60,000 electric cars.