Sweden picks Rolls-Royce modular reactors, first new nuclear power plants in 40+ years

Sweden has selected Rolls-Royce SMR to supply three small modular reactors (SMRs) for a new nuclear power project at the Varo Peninsula next to the Ringhals site.

The decision was announced by Videberg Kraft — a nuclear venture backed by utility giant Vattenfall and industrial partner Industrikraft.

The project marks Sweden's first new nuclear power build in over 40 years, with detailed planning now set to begin for reactors based on modular technology.

The project calls for three small modular reactor (SMR) units based on the UK-designed Rolls-Royce SMR platform, to be built on Sweden’s west coast.

If completed, it would represent one of the most significant additions to Swedish nuclear capacity in decades, reviving a sector long constrained by political and regulatory hesitation.

The win strengthens Rolls-Royce’s position as a frontrunner in Europe’s emerging SMR market. It now holds or is advancing binding or structured agreements across three countries—Sweden, the UK, and Czechia—making it the only SMR developer with multi-country deployment commitments at this stage.

In the UK, state-backed initiative Great British Energy and nuclear partners have already moved forward with early deployment planning at Wylfa in North Wales.

In the Czech Republic, utility CEZ Group has signed early-stage agreements for SMR deployment at Temelín, with ambitions to scale capacity to several gigawatts and take an equity stake in the Rolls-Royce SMR program.

The Sweden announcement also follows closely on the heels of a trilateral nuclear technology agreement between UK National Nuclear Laboratory, Japan’s Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and Rolls-Royce.

The pact aims to accelerate development of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology and next-generation TRISO fuel, a coated particle fuel designed for high thermal resilience and passive safety.

While the current Rolls-Royce SMR design is based on a 470 MWe pressurized water reactor, the HTGR program represents a parallel advanced-fuel pathway that could broaden the company’s long-term reactor portfolio.

The TRISO fuel concept itself traces back to early British coated-particle research programs, which laid groundwork for modern accident-tolerant fuel systems.

Rolls-Royce is also embedded in US defence-linked nuclear innovation through its role in BWX Technologies’ Project Pele, supplying power conversion systems for a mobile microreactor programme targeting demonstration later this decade.

Despite the expanding pipeline of contracts and international partnerships, industry analysts caution that most SMR projects remain in pre-construction phases.

In June 2025, Rolls-Royce SMR was named as the selected technology in the Great British Nuclear (GBN) small modular reactor (SMR) competition.

The UK’s next generation of nuclear power stations will be designed and built by the British company, boosting the supply chain and creating growth for the economy.

The announcement that Rolls-Royce SMR has been successfully selected ahead of several international SMR vendors, comes at the end of a two-year selection process in which GBN assessed leading technologies from around the world.

Site preparation in the UK is underway, but like much of Europe’s nuclear revival, timelines remain sensitive to regulatory approvals, supply chain readiness, and long-lead nuclear-grade component manufacturing.

Sweden’s decision is less a standalone project and more a signal of accelerating alignment among European governments around SMRs as a strategic energy and security asset — though actual reactors may still be years away from delivering power to the grid.