Siemens Energy's Newcastle works to build turbines for UK's first SMRs

Rolls-Royce SMR said on September 3, 2026 that key steam turbine components for its first three reactors, at the Gwyndod project on Anglesey in North Wales, will be manufactured at Siemens Energy's Newcastle site, including the high-pressure turbines and valve casings. The release says this will be the first time such components are produced for a small modular reactor anywhere in Europe, that the announcement will support more than 550 jobs, and that the Newcastle facility is also planned to become the service hub for Siemens Energy's key components across the Rolls-Royce SMR fleet in the UK.

The site is the former CA Parsons Works, which the release says has been part of the UK's energy infrastructure since 1889 and built the steam turbine for Calder Hall in West Cumbria, which the release calls the world's first commercial nuclear power station and which began generating in 1956; seventy years later, the same site is to supply turbines for a plant beside the Wylfa site, whose own Magnox reactors, World Nuclear News notes, are being decommissioned. Rolls-Royce SMR selected Siemens Energy as its global turbine systems partner in February 2025; under that agreement, WNN reports, Siemens Energy is to be the sole supplier of steam turbines, generators and auxiliary systems for the company's planned nuclear power plants. Chief executive Chris Cholerton said the announcement shows the company "delivering its commitment to localisation, driving investment and reshoring work that would have taken place overseas," and the release says the plant will also produce components for export projects.

The release carries five quotes: two cabinet ministers, the state buyer, and the two companies. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh called the announcement "what our golden age of nuclear looks like in practice." Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the investment "will support more than 550 good jobs for people in Newcastle." Simon Roddy, chief executive of Great British Energy - Nuclear, welcomed Siemens to "the team delivering the UK's first SMRs." Siemens Energy's UK vice president, Darren Davidson, said the site is "preparing to manufacture the next generation of steam turbines for small modular reactors." WNN reported that the announcement was made at the Newcastle works on September 3 with both ministers present.

The Newcastle announcement slots into a programme that has been assembling its pieces since June 2025. Great British Energy - Nuclear named Rolls-Royce SMR its preferred bidder on June 10, 2025, after what the government called a rigorous two-year competition, pledging over £2.5 billion (about US$3.4 billion) for the SMR programme in the Spending Review period and describing a project that could support up to 3,000 jobs at peak construction. It confirmed Wylfa as the site on November 13, 2025, describing up to 1.5 GW of low-carbon capacity. On April 13, 2026 the two signed the contract that formally began technology design activities, site-specific design, regulatory engagement and planning, "ahead of a future Final Investment Decision," with £2.6 billion (about US$3.5 billion) allocated in the 2025 Spending Review; Rolls-Royce SMR's own account says the contract covers an initial three units at Wylfa and that a National Wealth Fund loan facility of up to £599 million (about US$810 million) is available to support the finalisation of the generic design. On June 26, 2026 GBE-N announced that the plant beside the Wylfa site would be called Gwyndod Power Station, a name chosen by a panel of young people from Ynys Môn and derived from Gwyndodeg, the old name for the region's dialect. WNN reports that a final investment decision is expected in 2029 and describes the Rolls-Royce SMR as a 470 MWe pressurised water reactor design.

The export market the release mentions is real, if young. In June 2026 the UK government announced that Swedish development company Videberg Kraft had selected Rolls-Royce SMR for Sweden's nuclear programme, a deal it called multibillion-pound without giving a figure; WNN notes ČEZ selected the design in October 2024 for up to 3 GW in the Czech Republic and took a 20% stake in the company. Another Swedish project, Studsvik's plan for four BWRX-300 units, picked a competing design and announced it on the same day Rolls-Royce SMR announced its turbines. What Newcastle has, as of September 3, is the manufacturing role for the first three Gwyndod units' turbine components, ahead of a final investment decision WNN puts in 2029.