Choice of Rolls-Royce to build Anglesey reactors angers US

Keir Starmer has announced that Britain’s first small modular nuclear reactors will be built in north Wales - but immediately faced criticism from Donald Trump’s administration after it had pushed for a US manufacturer to be chosen.

- Jasper Jolly

Wylfa, on the island of Anglesey, (Ynys Môn) will be home to three small modular reactors (SMRs) to be built by British manufacturer Rolls-Royce SMR. The government said it would invest £2.5bn.

SMRs are a new - and untested - technology aiming to produce nuclear reactors in factories to drive down costs and speed up installation. Rolls-Royce plans to build reactors, each capable of generating 470 megawatts of power, mainly in Derby.

The government also said its Great British Energy - Nuclear (GBE-N) will report on potential sites for further larger reactors. They would follow the 3.2 gigawatt reactors under construction by French state-owned EDF at Hinkley Point C in Somerset and Sizewell C in Suffolk.

The Labour government under Starmer has embraced nuclear energy in the hope that it can generate electricity without carbon dioxide emissions, while also providing the opportunity for a large new export industry in SMRs. However, it faced the prospect of a row with the US, piqued that its ally had overlooked America’s Westinghouse Electric Company when choosing the manufacturer for the Wylfa reactors.