Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:RR.) is one of five companies that have submitted designs for a new range of small modular reactors or mini-nukes, according to reports on Tuesday.
Submissions had to be made by 4 pm yesterday with the two winning designs to be chosen by the end of the year.
Originally six companies had indicated they would put in designs, but French energy group EDF failed to make the deadline and had effectively withdrawn according to a report in the Telegraph.
Alongside Rolls-Royce, the organisations to submit applications were GE Hitachi, Westinghouse, Holtec Britain and Nuscale Power.
Great British Nuclear (GBN) is the government agency currently tasked with choosing the winning designers, which will build demonstration plants, though its status is unclear as it was established under the previous government.
A new organisation, Great British Energy, is being set up by Keir Starmer’s government to oversee British power projects.
The Tories wanted a quarter of all UK electricity to come from nuclear power by 2050.
Unlike conventional nuclear reactors that are built on-site, SMRs are smaller, factory-produced modules that make construction faster and less expensive.
Shares in Rolls-Royce eased 1.6% to 455.5p.