Teesside is in line for part of a major national contract to help build a new generation of nuclear reactors.
Despite having been missed off the original shortlist when Rolls Royce was looking at sites to manufacture its Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), Teesworks has now been added to the list. Rolls Royce bosses will visit over the next few weeks to see if the site will make it to the final selection.
Read more: Backing for Rolls-Royce nuclear factories in North East
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: "Being on the Rolls Royce shortlist is a real boost and shows prestigious global names are sitting up and taking notice of what we're doing at Teesworks.
"There's still a lot more to do, and it isn't guaranteed, but this shows we're well and truly in the mix for incredible investments which can create good quality jobs in our area.
"The expertise and the skills we hold in manufacturing mean we're already leading the pack when it comes to Net Zero innovation. More investment in nuclear simply means more jobs.
"Teesside is far and away the best place to get this project done."
In July, Rolls-Royce SMR announced its shortlisted locations for the first factory to manufacture components for its SMR power station. Over the next six weeks, a team from Rolls-Royce SMR will visit the locations to gather more information that will assist with a further 'down-select' of the factory sites.
David White has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Rolls-Royce SMR and will oversee the work to construct the factories required to deploy a fleet of SMRs, each capable of generating 470MW of clean, low-carbon, affordable and sustainable electricity – enough to power a million homes.
David said: “I’d like to thank the Local Enterprise Partnerships, the Welsh Government and the owners of the shortlisted sites for their continued support and cooperation.
“The overwhelmingly positive response, resulting in more potential sites than we might have hoped for, means we have more information to assess but is vitally important in helping us select the right locations for our factory.”
David added: “We’re also pleased to announce that another two locations - Shotton, Deeside and Teesworks, Redcar – have been added to the shortlist after the sites met the selection criteria.”
Rolls-Royce SMR’s approach is a radically different way of deploying nuclear power stations – where 90% of the components are manufactured in a factory environment. A factory for the Rolls-Royce SMR programme will bring significant investment, long-term High-skilled jobs and sustainable economic growth for the area.
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