{"id":117671,"date":"2026-09-04T15:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/117671\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T15:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:02:23","slug":"britain-to-build-turbines-for-rolls-royce-mini-nuclear-reactors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/117671\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain to build turbines for Rolls-Royce mini-nuclear reactors"},"content":{"rendered":"

British workers will build steam turbines for Rolls-Royce’s fleet of mini-nuclear reactors in a boost to domestic manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Siemens Energy will produce the huge machines for a new generation of small modular reactors (SMRs) at its factory in Newcastle.<\/p>\n

They will be used in the three Rolls-designed SMRs that are being built in Anglesey, as well as further reactors set to be built in the Czech Republic and Sweden.<\/p>\n

It will be the first time large steam turbines have been made domestically in more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

The expansion will follow an investment in the Newcastle factory understood to be worth tens of millions of pounds. It is expected to create 550 jobs.<\/p>\n

It follows concerns raised by MPs that SMR components were set to be built abroad.<\/p>\n

Rolls-Royce SMR said the decision by German engineering giant Siemens demonstrated how the company was “delivering its commitment to localisation, driving investment and re-shoring work that would have taken place overseas”.<\/p>\n

Rolls-Royce SMR is an independent company, majority owned by

have set a target for 70pc of components to be made in Britain<\/a>, and on Thursday they hailed the announcement by Siemens as proof their plan to “reindustrialise Britain” was working.<\/p>\n

Miatta Fahnbulleh, the Energy Secretary, said: “Producing these components here in the UK will help strengthen our energy security, reduce our exposure to volatile international gas markets, create new export opportunities for British industry, and reindustrialise the UK.”<\/p>\n

Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, added: “Building small modular reactors here in the UK presents huge benefits for us, from more export opportunities to more jobs on the ground at home.”<\/p>\n

The Newcastle factory is expected to make both high-pressure turbines and valve casings.<\/p>\n

It will also become the service hub for the turbines in the Rolls SMR fleet, ensuring a pipeline of work for the site that is expected to last decades.<\/p>\n

The historic Parsons Works is the site once run by Sir Charles Parsons, the revered British engineer who helped to revolutionise marine propulsion with his invention of the multi-stage steam turbine.<\/p>\n

It was established in 1889 and was where the steam turbine for Calder Hall \u2013 the world’s first commercial nuclear power station, in Cumbria \u2013 was built.<\/p>\n

Grid-scale steam turbines have not been manufactured in the UK since the early 2000s, when Siemens scaled back its operations in Newcastle.<\/p>\n

A steam turbine for a nuclear power plant has not been built in Britain since the early 1990s when one was supplied for the Sizewell B plant in Suffolk.<\/p>\n

Tom Greatrex, of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: “This is what reindustrialisation looks like: a vital clean energy project reviving our old manufacturing capabilities to provide good, skilled jobs where we need them.<\/p>\n

“The announcement is a real vote of confidence in industrial Britain and shows what SMRs and nuclear projects can deliver for this country.”<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British workers will build steam turbines for Rolls-Royce’s fleet of mini-nuclear reactors in a boost to domestic manufacturing.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20731],"tags":[13,374,234,4685,27027,48032,1238,25248,21182,35194,22770,9607],"class_list":["post-117671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rolls-royce","tag-britain","tag-british","tag-energy","tag-newcastle","tag-rolls","tag-rolls-smr","tag-rolls-royce","tag-rolls-royce-smr","tag-rolls-royces","tag-siemens","tag-siemens-energy","tag-smr"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117213380500216376","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}