IN Brief:
- Laing O’Rourke has joined an international consortium proposing 14 small modular reactors across three UK sites.
- The privately led programme would use GE Vernova Hitachi’s BWRX-300 technology to deliver 4.2GW of capacity.
- The bid adds another major delivery route to the UK’s emerging modular nuclear construction market.
Laing O’Rourke has joined an international consortium bidding to deliver a 14-reactor small modular nuclear fleet across three UK sites.
The proposal has been submitted by Warsaw-based SGE under the UK Government’s Advanced Nuclear Framework. It is based on GE Vernova Hitachi’s BWRX-300 reactor technology and would provide 4.2GW of generating capacity if delivered in full.
The delivery team includes GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Samsung C&T, Laing O’Rourke, Aecon, Google Cloud, Fermi Development, and Etara. The consortium has not yet named its preferred sites, but the programme would begin with a six-reactor station before moving to two further multi-unit locations.
SGE expects the proposal to enter the Advanced Nuclear Pipeline later this year, with site selection and negotiations over government support targeted for completion in the first half of 2027. Major investment, licensing, and site preparation could follow around a year later, while the first reactor is targeted for commercial operation in 2034.
Laing O’Rourke’s role is centred on industrialised construction expertise and advanced manufacturing methods. The contractor has positioned repeatability, productivity, safety, and programme certainty as central to its contribution, drawing on experience from major infrastructure and nuclear construction.
The BWRX-300 design completed Step 2 of the UK Generic Design Assessment in December 2025 and is already under construction at the Darlington New Nuclear Project in Canada. For the UK bid, the consortium is proposing a repeatable fleet-build model rather than a single bespoke nuclear project.
That distinction is central to the economics of small modular reactors. Civil construction remains substantial, but the model aims to shift more activity into controlled manufacturing environments, reduce the amount of unique design work required on each site, and shorten the learning curve between units.
The bid enters a UK nuclear market that is becoming more crowded and more industrially significant. Rolls-Royce SMR has already moved into formal UK design work after selection for the country’s first SMR programme, with site-specific design, planning, and regulatory engagement under way. Factory-built nuclear is now being drawn into the UK’s wider clean-power and industrial strategy, creating a benchmark for competing technologies and delivery models.
SGE’s proposal adds a privately led route to that market. The programme would need government support, regulatory approvals, site agreements, supply-chain capacity, and financing structures robust enough to support a multi-site nuclear build. Even with modular technology, nuclear construction carries demanding requirements around safety, quality assurance, materials traceability, regulatory evidence, and workforce competence.
The construction opportunity is substantial but technically narrow. SMR delivery will require civil engineering, groundworks, concrete, heavy lifting, offsite fabrication, modular assembly, mechanical and electrical installation, digital project controls, and long-term quality documentation. It also demands repeatable delivery discipline, an area where UK construction has often struggled to maintain consistency across large programmes.
Electricity demand is rising through electrification, data-centre development, industrial load growth, and grid decarbonisation. Nuclear is being positioned as firm low-carbon power that can sit alongside renewables, storage, interconnection, and grid reinforcement, turning nuclear construction into a long-term pipeline question as well as an energy policy debate.
Recent disruption at major nuclear projects has shown how sensitive delivery can be to workforce arrangements, site logistics, and package coordination. Mechanical and electrical works at Hinkley Point C have underlined the need for labour stability and tight site controls on nuclear construction programmes. SMRs may be smaller than conventional reactors, but a fleet approach does not remove those delivery pressures.
The SGE bid remains at an early stage. Site selection, government support, regulatory progression, and procurement will determine whether it moves from proposal into construction. The inclusion of Laing O’Rourke gives the bid a clear UK construction capability and reinforces a wider shift in nuclear delivery: from one-off megaprojects toward repeatable industrial programmes.
