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Rolls-Royce鈥檚 design for a type of mini nuclear reactor that proponents say could be built more quickly and cheaply than a full-scale plant has passed the first step towards regulatory approval. 

The Environment Agency, Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and Natural Resources Wales, have announced that the firm鈥檚 proposals for a 470MW small modular reactor (SMR) will progress to the next stage of the generic design assessment (GDA). 

The government said in last year鈥檚 energy security strategy that SMRs would form a 鈥渒ey part鈥� of its efforts to generate 24GW of energy from nuclear power by 2050. 

Rolls-Royce鈥檚 reactor passed step one of the GDA a year after they were submitted and just weeks after the UK government launched an international competition to find the most promising SMR designs. 

Great British Nuclear, the new body set up to oversee the revival of atomic energy, will run the competition, which is intended to be completed by the end of the year. 

Details on new financing have yet to be announced, but the government has committed to co-fund the winning bids if they are 鈥渄emonstrated to be viable鈥�. 

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Rolls-Royce has reportedly been frustrated by the government鈥檚 reluctance to sign off on orders for the technology until it has been approved by the ONR. 

While the FTSE 100-listed company will no doubt be a front-runner, the competition launch appears to confirm that the government could yet back an alternative supplier, despite having supported Rolls鈥� SMR business set up with a 拢210m grant. 

Start-up Newcleo has raised 拢900m to back its entry into the market, while US energy firm Holtec is already working with the UK鈥檚 biggest contractor, Balfour Beatty, to figure out how its own designs could be built. 

Rolls-Royce鈥檚 has said its SMR would be roughly a tenth the size and cost of full-scale reactors and would generate around 470MW of power, equivalent to more than 150 onshore wind turbines and enough to power one million homes. 

In December, the company announced three potential locations for a factory where its SMRs would be built before being transported to site by road. 

It is expected to make a decision shortly between the International Advanced Manufacturing Park on Sunderland and South Tyneside, Teesworks on Teesside and Gateway on Deeside 

Wylfa Newydd, Trawsfynydd, Oldbury and Sellafield, have been prioritised as potential sites for the site of the SMRs themselves. 

The second stage of the GDA for Rolls-Royce SMR is expected to take 16 months.