Westinghouse SMRs set for Teesside rollout in ‘early 2030s’

The contract will see the deployment of four Westinghouse AP300 SMRs in the North Teesside region. Based on the US company’s AP1000 pressurised light water technology, each AP300 reactor will be capable of delivering 300MWe. According to Westinghouse, close alignment with the AP1000 means the SMR will rely on the larger reactor’s existing engineering, components and supply chain, helping to fast-track the AP300's deployment.

“We want to thank Community Nuclear Power for this tremendous opportunity to deliver our advanced, proven AP300 SMR technology to the UK market,” said David Durham, Westinghouse president, Energy Systems.

“Our AP300 SMR is ideally suited not just to support grid generation, but also for industrial sites for generating clean and secure energy and the ability to produce hydrogen, e-fuels, desalination and district heating.”

Incorporated in 2022, CNP bills itself as the UK’s only independent Small Modular Reactor (SMR) development company. The Cumbria-based firm is working with partners including Jacobs to secure a license for the Teesside site as early as 2027. According to CNP and Westinghouse, commercial operation of the Teesside SMR fleet should be underway by the ‘early 2030s’.

“This project brings together Westinghouse’s proven technology and mature supply chain with our depth of expertise in nuclear programme delivery, in a region that is transforming its industrial landscape,” said Community Nuclear Power CEO Paul Foster, who has decades of nuclear experience working at Sellafield and Babcock International.

“We are delighted to be working with Westinghouse in support of private deployment in North Teesside.”

According to the CNP website, the company also has plans for a similar SMR fleet at Moorside in Cumbria and is assessing further sites in both North West and South West England.

“This is the first privately funded project deploying SMRs anywhere in Europe, and our goal is to be generating clean energy with in ten years’ time,” the company said in a blog post heralding the Teesside deal.

“There is mature market-led demand in Teesside for a micro-grid of clean, reliable and dedicated energy – in this instance a private sector programme to build a specialised site that provides green sustainable power for the region and supports the development of a Green Energy and Chemical Hub on the North Tees Group Estate, with the ambition of producing power to liquids (e-fuels and e-chemicals) through an offtake ecosystem on the north bank of the River Tees, near Stockton-on-Tees.”