LONDON, April 1, 2026, 12:05 BST
Rolls-Royce Holdings’ push into small modular reactors moved closer to delivery on Wednesday after Great British Energy-Nuclear awarded an owner’s engineer contract worth up to £300 million ($406 million) to an Amentum-Cavendish Nuclear joint venture for the Wylfa project in North Wales. The agreement can run for as long as 14 years and will support deployment of Rolls-Royce SMR technology at the site, the companies said. 1
The award matters because it pushes Britain’s first Rolls-Royce SMR scheme out of the selection phase and into execution planning. An owner’s engineer is the client’s independent technical adviser on design, safety and delivery, while SMRs are smaller reactors built in sections so they can be assembled faster than traditional plants. For Rolls-Royce, a working UK project would also give it a reference site as governments weigh whether the technology can be exported at scale. 1
The timing is notable. On March 31, Rolls-Royce said it had started work with Voltaria on a 43-megawatt battery storage project in Scotland, its first large battery energy storage site in Britain. Together, the two announcements underline how the group is trying to build out nuclear, batteries and data-centre power alongside its aero-engine and defence businesses. 2
The Wylfa contract went to Litmus Nuclear, the Amentum-led venture with Babcock’s Cavendish Nuclear. The partners said they will provide independent assurance and technical advice across design, safety, engineering, construction and commissioning as Great British Energy-Nuclear works toward a final investment decision. 1
Mick Gornall, managing director of Cavendish Nuclear, called the appointment a “landmark” owner’s engineer role. Simon Roddy, chief executive of Great British Energy-Nuclear, said the new team should help the project move “with pace and determination”. 3
Britain picked Rolls-Royce SMR, majority owned by Rolls-Royce Holdings, in June 2025 after a two-year competition against Westinghouse, Holtec Britain and GE-Hitachi, then chose Wylfa as the first site in November. The government has committed more than £2.5 billion to the programme, and the first three 470-megawatt units are meant to come on line in the mid-2030s, enough to power about 3 million homes. 4
But this is still the first build of a new design, and the hard part sits ahead. Iolo James of the Nuclear Industry Association has said the main hurdles are regulatory timing, financing and supply-chain scale-up, while Mattia Baldoni of the European Nuclear Society warned that “greater alignment is needed” on licensing and component standards. Rolls-Royce SMR has said it expects design approval from the Office for Nuclear Regulation by December 2026. 5
In February, Rolls-Royce reported £3.46 billion of underlying operating profit for 2025 and said its power systems arm had benefited from rapid data-centre build-outs. It also mapped out a £7 billion-£9 billion buyback for 2026-2028, and Chief Executive Tufan Erginbilgic said he expected Rolls-Royce SMR to grow “materially”. 6
