The mainstream nuclear power sector has been in decline since it peaked at about 25% of the UK’s electricity generation almost 30 years ago. The need for secure, low-carbon electricity convinced recent governments of the need to encourage its renaissance, providing political support and financial incentives to encourage the development of up to four large scale, mainstream reactors at Hinkley and Sizewell in England.
The government is now going further, committing to the development of small modular reactors (SMRs). It has nominated Rolls Royce as the preferred technology provider, set aside £2.5 billion of development funding, and identified the existing nuclear site in Wylfa, on the island of Anglesey in North Wales, for the first three SMRs. This is a timely boost for this fledgling technology, and it is hoped it will be the basis for more widespread deployment in the UK, and offer export opportunities around the world, in the coming decades.
The public has not always been supportive of nuclear power despite the successful delivery of large quantities of low-carbon electricity over the last 60 years. The industry has also provided large numbers of skilled jobs and encouraged the emergence of an excellent supply chain to service its needs; it has had to work hard on its ongoing engagement with local communities to ensure it has a social licence-to-operate.
However, there are some significant differences between the mainstream nuclear technologies and SMRs, beyond the obvious ones of size, capital investment and build time. Important differences are that SMR plants are modular and factory built, several can be accommodated on the same site, and the employment distribution shifts more towards the supply chain.
Consider the various steps in the stakeholder engagement programme: the decision to proceed is followed by a development phase and then onto construction and operations. For an organisation wishing to participate in an SMR project, each step requires engagement with a slightly different set of stakeholders. In the early stages, engagement is required with decision-makers in the form government ministers and their officials; the regulator is also an important stakeholder along with politicians, some of which have constituencies that may be identified for new SMR build.
The development phase of the project involves a more diverse stakeholder group with potential investors, market participants, and technical institutions added to officials and regulators; early engagement with local communities enhances trust and is crucial for the success of the project. To these must be added the supply chain in the construction phase; again, early engagement with this group allows the required resources – both material and human – to be brought together in a timely fashion. The operation phase involves highly skilled employees, and these are excellent ambassadors for the plant in the local community over the long term.
Perhaps the biggest difference from the mainstream nuclear industry is that SMRs may be deployed beyond the existing nuclear sites on brownfield and greenfield sites depending on the level of demand; a large data centre, for example, could have its electricity supplied from a dedicated SMR. Such deployment to local demand centres will be a challenge for the SMR developer and operator and, crucially, it will require the electricity offtake and supply chain organisations to be involved in the engagement programme with the local communities.
The nature, scale and emphasis of stakeholder engagement, then, will be different from the past, and it important that this is done well otherwise there is a danger the technology will not be accepted in communities that have not had nuclear power facilities close by in the past. It is crucially important then that the new plants at Wylfa are constructed on time and to budget, and that they operate smoothly. This will enhance the credibility of, and trust in, the industry and will help convince communities new to nuclear power that SMR deployment will bring much needed employment and economic benefit. If this is not the case, opposition to new SMR project may grow and the promise of this technology may be lost.
My book, Strategic Stakeholder Engagement, provides a comprehensive approach to the subject with many helpful lessons to support the deployment of SMRs and other infrastructure projects.
Published in April 2026.