UK Doubles Down on Nuclear with £14.2bn Sizewell C Investment and New SMR Deal
Nuclear power is set to play a far greater role in Britain’s energy future, as the government announces a £14.2 billion investment into the Sizewell C power station and confirms Rolls-Royce SMR as the preferred bidder to build the UK’s first small modular reactors.
Seen as a vital part of the transition to net zero, nuclear is expected to work alongside renewables to replace fossil fuels and deliver reliable, homegrown electricity. Ministers are backing a new generation of nuclear technology to help power millions of homes, boost energy security, and create long-term industrial jobs.
A ‘Golden Age of Clean Energy’
The Sizewell C plant, being developed by EDF next to the existing Sizewell A and B reactors on the Suffolk coast, will feature two large EPR reactors delivering 3.2 GW of electricity — enough to power around six million homes for at least 60 years. Construction is expected to take about a decade, with the plant becoming operational before the end of the 2030s.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the investment was needed “to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance,” calling nuclear “the only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis.”
Rolls-Royce SMR Selected for First UK Modular Reactors
In a parallel announcement, Rolls-Royce SMR has been chosen as the preferred bidder to build the UK’s first fleet of small modular reactors. These next-generation nuclear units are seen as a quicker and more flexible complement to large-scale nuclear plants, and could begin delivering power in the mid-2030s.
Each Rolls‑Royce SMR unit is expected to power around 1 million homes for at least 60 years, and a fleet of SMRs would ultimately serve approximately 3 million homes — potentially supporting up to 3,000 peak-construction jobs, with £2.5 billion allocated in this Spending Review.
The initiative is being led by Great British Energy – Nuclear, a newly renamed public company that will work jointly with Great British Energy to roll out clean homegrown power. Contracts with Rolls-Royce SMR are expected to be signed later this year, along with the first site allocation.
Nuclear’s Growing Role in the UK Grid
Together, the new Sizewell C station, the modular reactors, and the under-construction Hinkley Point C project represent the biggest expansion of nuclear power in Britain for a generation. Once complete, these plants will deliver more electricity to the UK grid than all nuclear facilities built in the past 50 years combined.
In 2024, nuclear energy supplied 14.5% of the UK’s electricity mix — a figure the government aims to significantly boost by the mid-2030s. The Civil Nuclear: Roadmap to 2050, published under the previous Conservative government, set out a target of up to 24 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2050 — around four times today’s levels. This would allow nuclear to meet roughly a quarter of the UK’s projected electricity demand by 2050.
The goal is clear: use nuclear to back up wind and solar, reduce dependence on imported gas, and secure a reliable, low-carbon power system for decades to come.
