A new operator for a 14-reactor fleet

Polish developer SGE and Origin Nuclear, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, have signed a letter of intent to set up a joint venture nuclear operating company, New Civil Engineer reported this week. The venture is being formed to support the licensing, commissioning and operation of a planned fleet of 14 GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors, each rated at 300MW, across three UK sites. The first site is planned to house six reactors for 1.8GW of capacity, with two further sites each hosting four reactors for 1.2GW apiece, a combined 4.2GW fleet. One of the three sites has been reported as Oldbury in South Gloucestershire, which was earmarked earlier this year for small modular reactor development under the government's advanced nuclear framework. Origin Nuclear envisages the first unit coming into commercial operation in 2034.

Why it matters

This is a new entrant into an already crowded UK small modular reactor field, sitting alongside Rolls-Royce SMR's programme and GB Energy Nuclear's wider pipeline. What makes it notable is the operator question: SGE has the reactor technology licence, but needs a company that actually knows how to run a nuclear plant day to day, which is the gap Origin Nuclear, backed by an experienced Canadian nuclear operator, is being brought in to fill. A 2034 first unit date sounds a long way off, but the civil works, grid connection, workforce training and site licensing for a programme like this start years before a reactor ever goes critical.

What it means for careers and hiring

For anyone in nuclear new build, this is a third major SMR employer now building out a UK pipeline, which is good news for anyone worried that nuclear hiring was becoming a two-horse race between Rolls-Royce SMR and the existing Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C workforce. Early recruitment on a programme like this tends to run well ahead of construction itself: licensing engineers, nuclear safety case specialists, commercial and project controls staff, and civil engineers for early site enabling works at Oldbury and the other two (as yet unnamed) sites.

If you are a QS or commercial manager with nuclear or heavily regulated infrastructure experience, Oldbury and the South West more broadly are worth watching over the next twelve to eighteen months, since site investigation and enabling contracts typically precede the main construction award by several years. Civil and structural engineers with nuclear-grade concrete or high-integrity construction experience, the kind Heidelberg has just been deploying at Sizewell C, will find this fleet is one more reason that skillset stays scarce and well rewarded into the 2030s. For anyone outside nuclear altogether but weighing a move, this JV is a reminder that the sector's hiring runway now stretches genuinely long, which is not true of every part of UK construction right now.