Pinsent Masons advises Rolls Royce SMR on £599m National Wealth Fund loan facility to accelerate Small Modular Reactor programme

The commitment represents a major milestone for Rolls‑Royce SMR as it advances its next‑generation nuclear technology, which has already progressed to the third and final stage of the UK’s Generic Design Assessment (GDA).

Pinsent Masons advised Rolls‑Royce SMR on the loan facility arrangements with the National Wealth Fund.

Small Modular Reactors offer a new route to clean, reliable electricity generation, helping to shape a more resilient domestic energy system. Each Rolls‑Royce SMR is designed to generate 470 megawatts of stable, low‑carbon electricity, enough to power the equivalent of around one million homes. Once the generic design is finalised, it will enable the roll‑out of site‑specific SMR projects across the UK and internationally.

Alongside its UK activities, Rolls‑Royce SMR has been selected as the preferred SMR technology partner for Czech utility ČEZ, with the potential to deliver up to 3GW of low‑carbon energy in Czechia, and is one of only two SMR developers to have progressed to the final stage of Vattenfall’s technology selection process in Sweden.

The Pinsent Masons team was led by Stephen Tobin, alongside Marcus Mackenzie, Louise Fullwood and Ian Falconer.

Stephen Tobin, Partner at Pinsent Masons, said: “Securing access to this co-funding facility marks a significant milestone for Rolls‑Royce SMR and for the UK’s ambition to develop world‑leading nuclear technologies. Supporting Rolls‑Royce SMR at this critical stage required careful alignment of investment, regulatory progress and long‑term commercial strategy. A particular focus was ensuring that the arrangements with the National Wealth Fund enabled near‑term delivery while preserving the flexibility and intellectual property foundations needed to support future deployment in the UK and internationally.”