A £300M Vote of Confidence for UK Nuclear Power

Great British Energy selects Litmus Nuclear as Owner's Engineer for Wylfa SMR site in a £300M, 14-year deal

23 Jun 2026

Great British Energy has awarded a £300 million engineering contract to Litmus Nuclear, naming the firm Owner's Engineer for the planned small modular reactor deployment at Wylfa in North Wales. Formed as a joint venture between Cavendish Nuclear and Amentum, Litmus Nuclear will provide independent technical oversight and quality assurance for Rolls-Royce SMR technology across a 14-year programme. The appointment places both firms at the centre of what officials have described as a pivotal moment in British energy infrastructure.

Owner's Engineer contracts carry considerable weight in major nuclear programmes. Serving as an independent technical authority, Litmus Nuclear will guide decisions on design, procurement, and construction while managing risk at each stage. Mick Gornall, Managing Director of Cavendish Nuclear, called it a landmark appointment, saying the award reflects the firm's breadth of capability across the nuclear enterprise.

Wylfa carries decades of nuclear heritage, with established grid connections and a community long familiar with the industry, advantages that analysts say reduce early-stage development risk. Deploying SMR technology there could supply low-carbon power to hundreds of thousands of homes while generating thousands of skilled jobs across North Wales and the wider supply chain, according to company statements. Policymakers have long sought to rebuild a domestic industrial base capable of supporting projects at this scale.

For energy-intensive industries, the Wylfa project offers a credible pathway toward stable, low-carbon electricity pricing in the medium term. Consolidating engineering and advisory responsibilities under a single joint venture reduces programme fragmentation and sharpens accountability across what analysts describe as one of Europe's most closely watched clean energy projects.

Progress at Wylfa, officials suggested, is already being monitored by governments considering their own approaches to SMR commercialisation. The results are widely expected to shape both domestic policy and international nuclear strategy in the years ahead.