Wylfa SMR Project: Gwyndod and the Newcastle Turbines Powering Britain’s First Small Reactors
Britain’s first small modular reactors are no longer just a plan on paper: the Wylfa SMR project is under contract, funded, and now has a turbine supplier building parts in Newcastle.
The Wylfa SMR project in brief
The project, called Gwyndod Power Station, sits next to the old Wylfa site on Anglesey in North Wales. In April 2026, state-owned Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N) signed a contract with Rolls-Royce SMR to start site-specific design work. The plan is three reactors delivering at least 1.4GW of low-carbon power.
The headline backing is around £2.5 billion of government funding (some outlets quote £2.6bn). On top of that, the National Wealth Fund has agreed to provide up to £599 million to support Rolls-Royce SMR’s design work.
Siemens Energy and the Newcastle turbines
In September 2026, World Nuclear News reported that key steam turbine parts for the first three units will be made at Siemens Energy’s Newcastle site. Siemens Energy is Rolls-Royce SMR’s sole supplier of steam turbines, generators and auxiliary systems.
- Newcastle will make high-pressure turbines and valve casings.
- It is also planned as the service hub for Siemens Energy components across the UK fleet.
- Rolls-Royce SMR says the work supports more than 550 jobs, and describes it as a first for SMR components in Europe.
Jobs and the supply chain
At peak construction, GBE-N expects around 3,000 jobs on site and thousands more across the wider supply chain. Rolls-Royce SMR has also opened a supplier programme covering about £1.4 billion of contracts, and says UK suppliers can contribute more than 70% of each plant by value.
A fair reality check
- The 550-plus jobs are described as supported or sustained. The Newcastle site already employs around 600 people, so not all of these are new posts.
- Siemens Energy is a German-headquartered group, so this is UK manufacturing rather than UK ownership.
- Not everything will be British-made. Nuclear Engineering International noted that reactor pressure vessels are expected to be imported from South Korea or Czechia.
- A final investment decision is not expected until around 2029, according to the Energy Industries Council, and this is a plan to supply power by the mid-2030s, not a working plant.
GO-IBR Research Team take
The Newcastle announcement matters because it turns a policy headline into named factories and named components. For grid and compliance teams, the real test comes later: how three 470MW-class units are connected, how they perform under grid-code requirements, and whether the supply chain delivers on time. For now, Wylfa is moving from promise to procurement.
Last updated 22 October 2026. Sources: World Nuclear News; American Nuclear Society; Energy Industries Council; Nuclear Engineering International; Nation.Cymru.
By the GO-IBR Research Team. © go-ibr.com
