Rolls-Royce is more than luxury cars. Now it turns out that the British automaker wants to invest in nuclear power. In Norway.
Profitable as hell? At least if luxury car manufacturer Rolls-Royce gets to have a say and push through its plans: 200 new nuclear power plants by 2050.
Behind this vision is Tuomo Huttunen, head of Rolls-Royce’s nuclear power investment in the Nordic market, who has recently signed an intention agreement with Norwegian Nuclear Energy, which has three Norwegian billionaires behind it.
“A market that can flourish”
So why Norway?
“We realize that we have a long way to go, and that a lot of work needs to be done, but in Norway we see a market that can really flourish,” Tuomo Huttunen told E24.
In addition to Norway and the Nordic region, Rolls-Royce has also looked at the Eastern European market and countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland. And of course, the UK where the project begins.
Here, the first factories and reactors will be built, according to Huttunen. The latter, so-called SMR reactors, small modular reactors, which mainly differ from current reactors on the market in terms of size, as well as parameters such as construction, project management, supply chains, and costs.
Shortening the processes
In practical terms, the idea is that the production of the various components for the nuclear power plants will be manufactured in Rolls-Royce’s own factories, and then transported to the respective countries and assembled “like Lego pieces”, which shortens the above-mentioned processes.
A detail that according to Tuomo Huttunen has so far been the biggest problem. For that reason, Rolls-Royce is one of several companies currently fighting to break into the global market with SMR.