Winning companies would be expected to power up nuclear plants in the next decade
Rolls-Royce and France’s EDF are on a shortlist of nuclear energy companies in the running to win government support for their small modular reactor (SMR) designs.
Six companies will progress to the next round of the competition, which will see them bid for contracts to build demonstrator power plants.
The winning bidders, with an unconfirmed number of contracts available, will be announced in the spring, the Government said on Monday.
They would be expected to deploy the first so-called mini-nukes in the 2030s.