> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Can UK Nuclear Companies Beat the Regulator's Clock? - URL: https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/can-uk-nuclear-companies-beat-the-regulators-clock/ - Published: 2026-10-13T12:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T12:00:01.000Z - Description: UK nuclear companies are racing to bring small reactors online, but regulatory delays could threaten their timelines. With reform deadlines and key licensing decisions converging in 2027, can Britain approve new reactors fast enough to keep investors on board? - Author: Sharoni Banerjee - Tags: Sector Spotlights *UK Nuclear Companies Want Small Reactors. Can Rules Keep Up?* --- UK regulations, says the man who reviewed them, have *"made us the most expensive place in the world to build nuclear."* John Fingleton chaired the government's Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce, and he said it on the **BBC's Today programme** in November 2025. So why are UK nuclear companies still trying to build reactors here? And can they win permission before the money, or the patience, runs out? --- ## Why build in the world's most expensive place? The simple answer is because the power is needed and the old model is slow. NESO, which is the system operator for **Great Britain**, puts demand at 263TWh in 2023, rising to 287 TWh in 2030\. Giant plants can take more than a decade to build. Now, UK small modular reactors promise something different. They are built in factories, shipped in pieces and then assembled on site, repeat the build often enough and, the argument goes, the cost falls. Not everyone buys it. Friends of the Earth, who are currently responding to the taskforce, put the opposing view plainly. > *"Nuclear power has always been and will always be extraordinarily expensive, not because of regulation but because of the nature of the technology."*— **Childs, Friends of the Earth, 24 November 2025** We think that is the real dividing line. If the problem is the rulebook, then reform can fix it, but if the problem is the technology, no rulebook will. UK nuclear companies are betting on the first answer, however, the critics are betting on the second. --- ## Who are the UK nuclear companies actually building small reactors? Start with the biggest name among UK small modular reactors. Rolls-Royce SMR signed its Wylfa contract on 13 April 2026, and the plan is three units of 470MWe each, 1.4GW in total, on Anglesey. A final investment decision is expected around 2029, with the first power in the mid-2030s. Now, if we look at the other end. Last Energy, a US-founded company with a UK subsidiary, wants four 20 MW reactors at Llynfi, near Bridgend. That is 80 MW. Wylfa is about 17.5 times bigger. Last Energy has also signed a memorandum of understanding with DP World covering London Gateway, with the first unit costing about £80m. Scale like that is why UK microreactor companies draw attention, a port or a factory could, in theory, own its power supply instead of queuing for the grid. Is that a niche or the future? The middle of the field is crowded as well, and not only with British names. X-energy and Centrica propose 12 units, 960MW, at Hartlepool. Holtec and EDF put forward a joint proposal for Cottam on 23 June 2026. Then there is a different bet altogether. Nuclear Turbines, a BAE spin-out in Manchester, raised £15m on 27 July 2026, with IQ Capital leading the round. It designs jet-engine-style turbines for use behind the meter, on the customer's own site. IQ Capital's Owston explained the logic. > *"The nuclear industry has always designed reactors first, then figured out what to do with the heat."*— **Owston, IQ Capital, 27 July 2026** --- ## What does a startup have to ask Britain's regulator for? Two permissions, in short. The first is Generic Design Assessment, or GDA, the **Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR)**, the **Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales** examine a reactor design before anyone picks a site. The second one is a nuclear site licence, which the ONR grants for one specific place. Our analogy, not the regulator's: **GDA** is type approval for a car; the site licence is permission to drive it down one particular road. They both take time. X-energy's GDA runs till the end of 2029\. Last Energy entered licensing in early 2025, and the ONR says a decision by December 2027 is achievable, and 'achievable' is not the same as promised. Can a young company fund itself through almost three years of waiting for one answer? Larger players can wait, but smaller ones may not be able to. Which UK nuclear companies can afford that kind of wait? --- ## Can nuclear regulation reform move faster than the reactors? Well, the government says it can. The taskforce made 47 recommendations in its final report on 24 November 2025; ministers accepted all of them on 13 March 2026, with reforms due by the end of 2027\. **The Advanced Nuclear Framework**, published on 4 February 2026, adds in-principle endorsement for selected projects. It does not add money. Fingleton's diagnosis was blunt. > *"The problems are systemic, rooted in unnecessary complexity, and a mindset that favours process over outcome."*— ***John Fingleton, chair, Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce, 24 November 2025*** Mindsets are harder to change than statutes. We firmly believe nuclear regulation reform will be judged on one test, and that is : whether the next applicant waits less than the last one? Now take a look at the calendar. Reform is due by the end of 2027, while the ONR's window for deciding on Last Energy is December 2027\. That overlap is our observation and not anyone's forecast, but it means the first real test of reform and a major licensing decision could land in the same window. For UK small modular reactors and their smaller cousins, that window is the one that counts, so if the rules are still slow by then, will investors keep believing the mid-2030s dates? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/05/a4/05a4a052-18ab-4836-8924-ec8b322c371c/content/images/2026/10/small-modular-reactors.png.png) Small modular reactor construction ## Who walked away, and who is still betting on Britain? Newcleo stepped back. It moved its headquarters to Paris in autumn 2024, on 31 July 2025, it scaled back its UK programme, keeping about 150 UK staff. The reason was fuel, and its CEO, Stefano Buono, did not hide his frustration exactly. > *"Sadly, despite many attempts to engage with political stakeholders, the UK government has decided to not make its plutonium available for the foreseeable future…"*— **Stefano Buono, Newcleo, 31 July 2025** He added that the government was lending its political support and considerable funding to other technologies. Others are staying and facing local politics. **Friends of the Earth Cymru** backs a campaign against the Llynfi project, so regulators are not Last Energy's only audience. **Newcleo's** exit shows what the licensing race can hide. A company needs fuel, a site, customers and political backing as well as a permit. Lose one, and the regulator's clock stops mattering, among **UK microreactor companies** and their larger rivals, who has all four? Two clocks run out in 2027 for UK nuclear companies, and one is the government's reform deadline. The other is the ONR's December window on Last Energy. So, which one slips first? **Also read:** [*DeliveryCo: Who Gets a Seat in UK Payments?*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/deliveryco-who-gets-a-seat-in-uk-payments/) --- **Sources:* This piece draws on the*[ *GOV.UK press release*](https://gov.uk/government/news/taskforce-calls-for-radical-reset-of-nuclear-regulation-in-uk?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk) *on the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce, published on 24 November 2025, for John Fingleton’s “systemic” quote. The “most expensive place in the world” line, and the Friends of the Earth comment, come from*[ *The Chemical Engineer*](https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/news/uk-most-expensive-place-in-the-world-for-nuclear/?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk) *and from*[ *Capital FM Africa’s copy of the BBC report*](https://capitalfm.africa/uk-most-expensive-place-to-develop-nuclear-power-report-says/?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)*. The taskforce’s recommendations are covered by*[ *World Nuclear News*](https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/radical%5Freforms%5Fneeded%5Fto%5FUK%5Fnuclear%5Fregulation%5Fsays%5Ftaskforce?ref=entrepreneurplus.co.uk)*. The company details come from announcements by Rolls-Royce SMR, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, Last Energy, IQ Capital, Newcleo, Holtec and X-energy.*