Rolls-Royce’s US$15.8m SMR Part Manufacturing Site in the UK

Rolls-Royce SMR’s Pioneer Works facility in Derby is its first manufacturing development centre where it will establish build processes, precision assembly and advanced testing.

The Pioneer Works facility, which the company has invested £12m (US$15.8m) in, is expected to open later this year and is needed to de-risk the delivery of its small modular reactor (SMR) fleet in the UK, the Czech Republic and Sweden. 

SMRs are quickly emerging as an alternative to traditional nuclear reactors, which are often costly projects spanning multiple years. 

The reactors can reduce costs on multiple fronts, which is appealing to the many countries seeking to triple nuclear capacity by 2050. 

Rolls-Royce’s Pioneer Works manufacturing site

Rolls-Royce SMR’s Pioneer Works site in Derby, UK is set to be a non-nuclear site, housing specialist engineering and manufacturing projects

The company says the site will create and sustain roughly 40 highly skilled, long-term roles as the facility ramps up, spanning advanced engineering, welding, testing, precision assembly and manufacturing development.

The facility will develop and validate the techniques, technologies and processes required to assemble the primary circuit.

Rolls-Royce sees the site as critical to the successful deployment of the company’s first power plants. It will operate alongside Rolls-Royce SMR’s existing ‘EXPERI’ facility at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. 

Ruth Todd CBE, Rolls-Royce SMR’s Operations and Supply Chain Director, says: “Pioneer 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.

“I’m 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’s ‘factory-built’ nuclear power plants around the world.”

What are small modular reactors? 

SMRs are nuclear fission reactors that generally have a power capacity of up to 300 megawatts (MW) per unit, which is about a third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear reactors, according to data from the IEA. 

Rolls-Royce says its SMRs generate 470 MW of energy per unit. 

Because they are more modular in design than traditional nuclear reactors, it is possible for the systems and components to be factory-assembled and transported as a unit to a location for installation. 

Rolls-Royce SMR say its ‘factory-built’ approach means that approximately 90% of the plant will be factory fabricated, tested and delivered to site as modules.

McKinsey argues that SMRs have the potential to reduce construction time and up-front costs in nuclear energy generation.

Global nuclear energy expansion

More than thirty countries have plans to triple nuclear capacity through to 2050, in line with meeting net zero goals, according to data from the World Nuclear Association. 

The countries planning to triple nuclear capacity include the US, China, Japan, the UK, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

Rolls-Royce SMR announced in 2026 that it has been contracted to deliver SMRs to both Sweden and the Czech Republic.

UK nuclear manufacturing

In the UK, Rolls-Royce SMR is spearheading the first domestic nuclear technology in more than 20 years.

It presents a massive opportunity in both engineering and manufacturing for the UK. Catherine Atkinson, UK Member of Parliament for Derby North, says: “Pioneer Works will bring skilled jobs and training opportunities to Derby, while putting our city at the centre of one of the biggest engineering opportunities of the coming years.”

The company says each Rolls-Royce SMR can create enough low carbon energy to power a million homes for the next 60 years. 

In April, Rolls-Royce SMR signed a contract with Great British Energy Nuclear to begin site-specific design and delivery activities for the UK’s first SMRs at Wylfa in North Wales.