EDF teams up with Holtec to develop four SMRs in the United Kingdom

EDF and the US company Holtec have submitted a project to the UK government to build up to four SMR-300 reactors on the site of the former Cottam coal-fired power station.

EDF and Holtec International have officially announced their partnership to develop up to four SMR-300 reactors on the Cottam site, a former coal-fired power station located in Nottinghamshire, in the United Kingdom. The two companies have submitted their proposal to the UK government under the Advanced Nuclear Framework and have signed the basis for a future joint venture tasked with carrying the project forward.

The SMR-300 developed by Holtec has an output of around 300 MW electrical per unit. The Cottam site already has grid connection infrastructure and could also host a large data centre campus, whose electricity needs are expected to increase sharply in the coming years.

A response to the renewal of the UK fleet

This project comes as the United Kingdom prepares to renew its nuclear fleet. The AGR reactors (Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors), which still account for a significant share of UK nuclear generation, will progressively reach the end of their operating lives over the next decade.

Already firmly established across the Channel, EDF operates all of the UK nuclear reactors currently in service and is building the two EPRs at Hinkley Point C. The partnership with Holtec would allow the French utility to take part in the development of a new reactor technology while drawing on its experience as an operator in the United Kingdom.

This cooperation is also part of EDF’s international strategy, which aims to leverage its operating and engineering expertise beyond projects based solely on its own technologies. ■