Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the timeline for the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) competition, and when they expect the first SMR to come online in the UK.

On 2 October 2023 the government and Great British Nuclear announced the outcome of the latest phase of the SMR Technology Selection Process, with six technology vendors down-selected to go forward to the next stage. The next stage of the process will be launched very shortly. The ambition is to announce in 2024 which of the six companies the Government will support.

The aim is for this to be the fastest competition of its kind in the world, to facilitate operational projects in the mid-2030s.