Michał Sołowow, a Polish industrialist and entrepreneur, has unveiled plans for a major nuclear infrastructure investment through his company SGE. The proposed initiative would deploy 14 small modular reactors across three locations in the United Kingdom, with a total private capital commitment of £35 billion. According to the consortium’s projections, the reactors would generate sufficient electricity to power approximately 8 million UK homes for more than 60 years, with potential additional applications for datacentre operations.
The project will utilize boiling water reactor technology developed through a partnership involving GE Vernova, the US-based manufacturer, and Hitachi, the Japanese industrial group. Each individual reactor would have a capacity of 300 megawatts, with development costs estimated between £2.2 billion and £2.5 billion per unit. The consortium, operating under the brand SGE SMR, is targeting the completion of site selection and securing a government support contract by this time next year, with electricity generation anticipated to begin in 2034.
Among the proposed locations is the Oldbury site in south Gloucestershire, a former nuclear facility identified for SMR development under the government’s advanced nuclear framework. The consortium has submitted an application for this site. The project structure includes a joint venture agreement signed this week involving Google Cloud, which may invest up to £4.5 billion in associated datacentre infrastructure, though this partnership is viewed as a separate proposal from the current application.
The investment strategy relies on a contracts for difference funding model similar to arrangements used for the Hinkley Point C project, rather than the construction-phase payment model employed for Sizewell C. This approach aims to minimize the financial risk to energy consumers from potential project delays. Sołowow emphasized that the framework established by the government has created favorable conditions for the project and highlighted the importance of utilizing UK industrial capabilities.
The SGE initiative enters a competitive landscape featuring Rolls-Royce, which secured a government competition award this year for SMR development with targeted power generation by 2032. Industry observers note that the announcement reflects growing private sector interest in nuclear technology development within the UK market.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI