Rolls-Royce SMR and Yokogawa Electric Corp. have announced a strategic agreement for the Japanese industrial automation specialist to deliver data processing and control systems (DPCS) for Rolls-Royce’s small modular reactor (SMR) programme, a deal covering the first units of what both companies envision as a global fleet of SMRs. Under the agreement, Yokogawa will design, validate, construct, test, install and commission the main control system for the Rolls-Royce SMR power plants. Ruth Todd, Director of Operations and Supply Chain at Rolls-Royce SMR, called it the “central nervous system” of the power station. Work will be carried out primarily from Yokogawa’s UK office and design facility in Runcorn, Cheshire, with additional contributions from the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Yokogawa has committed to making significant investments to support the project, strengthening the UK nuclear supply chain and creating jobs in the regions where the first plants are planned. “Securing a world-class supplier is critical and we are proud that a substantial part of this work will be carried out in the UK and Czech Republic, creating jobs, developing skills and driving growth in the regions where our first plants will be built,” Todd said.
The agreement on the control system comes as Rolls-Royce SMR’s project portfolio continues to expand. The company has been selected as the preferred bidder by Great British Energy–Nuclear (GBE-N) to build the UK’s first SMRs at Wylfa on Anglesey, a project expected to deliver up to 1.5 GW of low-carbon generation and create 8,000 jobs in the long term. Rolls-Royce SMR also has a partnership with Czech company ČEZ to deploy up to 3 GW of capacity in the Czech Republic, and is one of two finalists in Vattenfall’s process to identify a nuclear technology partner for Sweden. Each Rolls-Royce SMR unit is designed to produce enough emissions-free energy to power approximately one million homes for at least 60 years.
For Yokogawa, the deal represents an important entry point into the emerging SMR market. Koji Nakaoka, executive vice president of Yokogawa, said the company would leverage decades of industrial automation experience to deliver “reliable, high-performance control systems that enable the safe, efficient and sustainable deployment of nuclear energy around the world.” Founded in 1915, Yokogawa operates in 62 countries with more than 17,000 employees and provides measurement, control and information solutions to industries including energy, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. —FORCE