EDF UK, Holtec International and Tritax Management have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to develop Holtec’s SMR-300 small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) at the former Cottam coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire.
The companies say the SMRs would provide power to new data centres on the site.
The 900 acre Cottam site already has grid connections and critical infrastructure that the companies say will significantly reduce development costs and timelines.
The project is also said to enable foreign direct investment into the UK, including into nuclear fuel fabrication and services by Framatome and turbine manufacture by Arabelle Solutions.
Holtec is planning its first SMR-300 deployment at Palisades, Michigan, USA, making he Cottam project ‘second-of-a-kind’. Holtec is already advancing the SMR-300 design in close collaboration with UK regulators, paving the way for greater regulatory alignment between the US. and UK. As part of this collaboration, Holtec International will provide the SMR-300 technology and lead early development activities.
Feasibility studies and early-stage investment discussions are now under way, with Holtec International and EDF UK engaged with relevant parties within UK and US governments, including Great British Energy – Nuclear and The National Wealth Fund.
The 1GW data centre project for Cottam is targeted to come online by the end of the decade and forms part of the Trent Valley Supercluster, submitted as an AI Growth Zone to the UK Government. The data centre project will initially have a significant contribution from renewable generation, with the SMR element becoming operational in the 2030s.