Rolls-Royce has signed a £15m deal with Sheffield University to trial manufacturing techniques for small modular reactors (SMRs), in the latest step towards making cheap nuclear power a reality. Under the agreement, the engineering giant will make the first working prototypes of SMR modules at the university’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. It will then seek to work out efficient and repeatable processes that will let the company produce them in large numbers. The investment was welcomed by Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, who said: “Small Modular Reactors are the future of nuclear technology, and key to quadrupling the UK’s nuclear capacity by 2050 as part of the biggest expansion in 70 years. “This multi-million-pound SMR manufacturing facility will be fantastic for Sheffield – making the Steel City once again the home to world-leading industry.” SMRs will be assembled from hundreds of factory-made modules, which will be transported to sites and then put together “like Lego bricks”. The initial phase of the Sheffield University deal will see Rolls spend £2.7m on producing three prototype modules by the end of this year. If that work is successful, the company will spend more than £15m making prototypes of each of the 15 types...