{"id":72333,"date":"2026-06-29T01:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/72333\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T01:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:27:12","slug":"rolls-royce-smr-to-open-12m-derby-manufacturing-centre-to-accelerate-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/72333\/","title":{"rendered":"Rolls-Royce SMR to open \u00a312m Derby manufacturing centre to accelerate production"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rolls-Royce SMR<\/a> has announced plans to open a new \u00a312m manufacturing development centre in Derby, marking a significant step forward in the UK\u2019s ambitions to establish a factory-built small modular reactor (SMR) industry.<\/p>\n

The new Pioneer Works facility, due to open in the fourth quarter of 2026, will serve as the company\u2019s first dedicated manufacturing development centre. It will establish the build processes, precision assembly techniques and advanced testing required to support the deployment of Rolls-Royce SMR\u2019s reactor fleet in the UK, Czechia and Sweden.<\/p>\n

Operating as a non-nuclear site, Pioneer Works will focus on specialist engineering and manufacturing projects that underpin the successful delivery of the company\u2019s first power plants. The facility will also develop and validate the manufacturing methods needed to assemble the primary circuit and other high-integrity components at the core of the reactors.<\/p>\n

The investment is expected to create and sustain around 40 highly skilled long-term roles as the site ramps up, spanning advanced engineering, welding, testing, precision assembly and manufacturing development. It will also become Rolls-Royce SMR\u2019s first dedicated training centre, helping develop the skilled workforce needed to support future reactor production.<\/p>\n

Ruth Todd CBE, Operations and Supply Chain Director at Rolls-Royce SMR, said the facility would play a central role in transforming how nuclear projects are delivered.<\/p>\n

\u201cPioneer Works will be at the centre of our ambition to transform the way nuclear projects are delivered, creating highly skilled jobs, supporting the wider supply chain and harnessing British engineering know-how to drive forward the next generation of nuclear power.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also incredibly proud that this facility will act as our first training centre to create a future workforce which will help build Rolls-Royce SMR\u2019s \u2018factory-built\u2019 nuclear power plants around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Derby site will operate alongside Rolls-Royce SMR\u2019s existing EXPERI facility at the University of Sheffield\u2019s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, which will continue developing the company\u2019s modular manufacturing approach. Together, the two facilities are intended to support the transition from design and prototype manufacture through to full modular assembly and commercial deployment.<\/p>\n

The announcement follows a series of major milestones for the business. In April, Rolls-Royce SMR signed a contract with Great British Energy \u2013 Nuclear to begin site-specific design and delivery work for the UK\u2019s first SMRs at Wylfa. The company has also entered into an early works agreement with Czech energy company \u010cEZ covering licensing, permitting and site-specific design activities.<\/p>\n

Local MPs welcomed the investment, highlighting Derby\u2019s established engineering heritage and advanced manufacturing capabilities.<\/p>\n

Catherine Atkinson MP, Member of Parliament for Derby North, said: \u201cDerby is winning investment because we have the skills, engineering expertise and supply chain to deliver work of national importance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baggy Shanker MP, Member of Parliament for Derby South, added that the investment would help create highly skilled jobs while providing new training, apprenticeship and career opportunities for local people.<\/p>\n

The investment comes as Rolls-Royce SMR continues to build momentum both at home and overseas. Earlier this month, the company secured a landmark contract to supply three Small Modular Reactors for Sweden\u2019s first new nuclear power plant in more than 40 years<\/a>, adding to recent agreements in the UK and Czechia. The new Derby facility will provide the manufacturing capability and skilled workforce needed to support that growing international order book.<\/p>\n

The Pioneer Works announcement reinforces Derby\u2019s position as one of the UK\u2019s leading advanced manufacturing and nuclear engineering hubs while strengthening the domestic capability needed to deliver the next generation of low-carbon energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

For more articles like this, visit our Leadership<\/a> channel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rolls-Royce SMR has announced plans to open a new \u00a312m manufacturing development centre in Derby, marking a significant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20731],"tags":[1276,234,2465,226,4634,4368,1238,2468],"class_list":["post-72333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rolls-royce","tag-collaboration","tag-energy","tag-innovation","tag-jobs","tag-leadership","tag-rd","tag-rolls-royce","tag-skills"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116830800520514354","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72333","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=72333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}