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GBE-N ‘doesn’t hold’ breakdown of proposed £20bn budget for SMR contract

30 Jun, 2026 By Tom Pashby,
https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/gbe-n-doesnt-hold-breakdown-of-proposed-20bn-budget-for-smr-contract-30-06-2026/

Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N) has said it “doesn’t hold” a breakdown of the £20bn it initially forecast that it may need to cover the cost of the Small Modular Reactor Technology Partner (TP) Contract.

The TP Contract was initially designed to include up to four awards, split into two stages.

On 8 May, GBE-N announced it had decided to make one award, to Rolls-Royce SMR, and that the value of the first stage of that one award was £359M.

“The forecast Stage 2 price of the TP Contract is approximately £8,168,000,000”, the award notice said.

It added: “This forecast price is indicative only as the pricing mechanism for Stage 2 remains subject to negotiation during Stage 1.”

This forecast price puts the total TP Contract value at £8.527bn.

The 8 May award notice also said: “The estimated total value within the tender notice for the two-stage TP Contract was £20,000,000,000 excluding VAT.

“This value was indicative only and based upon GBE-N’s initial understanding of the potential costs of developing a first-of-a-kind technology.

“This estimated total value was based on the fact that in the tender notice GBE-N reserved the right to make up to four awards, although GBE-N also reserved the right to award three, two or only one contract(s).

“GBE-N has ultimately decided to award only one TP Contract and the contract award notice value reflects this.”

The notice did not say what the estimated budget was for each of those up to four awards. If they had been of equal value, the awards would have been for £5bn for the two stages, meaning that they had underestimated total costs according to their current calculations by £3.5bn.

NCE requested a breakdown of the £20bn initial estimated figure for the up to four TP Contract awards, via the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

In response, GBE-N said: “Following reasonable and proportionate searches of our records, we confirm that Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N) does not hold the information you have requested.”

NCE is challenging this response via an internal review on the basis that there is a reasonable expectation that GBE-N would hold more detailed information about the £20bn initial estimated budget.

GBE-N declined to comment when approached about the FOI response.

July 7, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized