SGE, the nuclear developer owned by Poland's richest man Michał Sołowow, formally applied on July 2, 2026 under the UK's Advanced Nuclear Framework to deploy 14 BWRX-300 small modular reactors across three British sites. The privately financed project, valued at roughly £35 billion, would deliver 4.2 GW of capacity, enough to meet about 11% of current UK electricity demand.
A Fleet Approach With Heavyweight Partners
The deployment team pairs SGE with GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, whose 300 MW water-cooled BWRX-300 anchors the program, alongside Samsung C&T, Laing O'Rourke, Aecon Group and Google Cloud. SGE says it has already invested £50 million to reach the application stage, filing more than 1,500 pages and establishing SGE SMR UK Ltd as its project vehicle. The first site would host six reactors, with four each at two subsequent sites. The timeline targets entry into the UK's Advanced Nuclear Pipeline in November, a final investment decision in 2030 and commercial operation of the first unit in 2034.
Private Capital, Contract for Difference
Sołowow stressed the commercial nature of the bid: "We are not asking for money from the UK government, we are asking for the opportunity." The team proposes a Contract for Difference scheme similar to Hinkley Point C, with modifications to better enable private finance, and estimates each SMR would cost about £2.2-2.5 billion once fleet production kicks in. According to The Guardian, Sołowow also hopes Google Cloud will move from technology partner to investment partner on up to £4.5 billion in data centres consuming the reactors' output.
BWRX-300 Momentum Builds
The BWRX-300 passed Step 2 of the UK's Generic Design Assessment in December, with regulators finding no fundamental shortfalls. The first commercial unit is under construction at Darlington in Ontario, and the design has been picked up from Elementl Power's Ohio project to SGE's own 14-reactor Polish program through the ORLEN Synthos Green Energy joint venture. The filing adds to a wave of SMR activity, from the DOE's $400 million awards to TVA and Holtec to Vattenfall's Rolls-Royce SMR selection at Ringhals, as data-centre power demand pulls private capital into nuclear at fleet scale.
Reporting based on coverage from Notes from Poland and World Nuclear News.