SMR - bidding process
Posted: 21st October 2025
Taxpayers face a £22 million bill for the bidding process to select the developer of nuclear reactors, as critics said it was symptomatic of the red tape hampering Rachel Reeves’s growth plans. Previously hailed as the fastest plan of its kind in the world, the bidding process to develop small modular reactors (SMR) took two years and saw firms face extra requirements to prove their “social value”. Companies were told to fill out up to 350 pages solely dedicated to how they would give jobs to groups of disadvantaged people — including asylum seekers, who generally cannot work while their claim is being processed. Pro-growth campaigners said the cost of the process was “absurd”, and diversity
requirements imposed across the supply chain would be “eye-wateringly” expensive. Sir Keir Starmer has hailed SMRs as a means of making energy bills more affordable, given they are a fraction of the size of traditional nuclear power stations, and therefore quicker, easier and cheaper to build. However, no SMRs have yet been built — and the prime minister in February said the technology was facing delays due to unnecessary planning regulations. Documents seen by The Times show the competition took £22 million, just to oversee the process for choosing a provider for the SMR technology. Internal costs to Great British Nuclear, which ran the competition, stood at £2.5 million, with the remaining £19.7 million spent on private companies. The consultancy Deloitte was paid £9.3 million, £6.4 million went to Ashurst — a law firm — and £3.8 million went to Arup for specialist advice. A further £92,000 was spent on software, with £6,000 more in IT costs, according to figures revealed under freedom of information laws.
Times 19th Oct 2025
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/22m-taxpayer-bill-nuclear-tender-process-fxdhs36bv