Britain will commit 16.7 billion Pounds (22.5 billion dollars) to nuclear power projects as the country shifts from fossil fuels.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said this on Tuesday.
Reeves signed off on 14.2 billion Pounds of investment to build the new Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk, England.
Rolls-Royce was the preferred bidder to build small modular reactors (SMRs) in a programme backed by 2.5 billion pounds of taxpayers’ cash.
Officials hoped SMRs would be cheaper and quicker to build than traditional power plants, and projects could be connected to the grid by the mid-2030s.
Reeves said: “The UK is back where it belongs, taking the lead in the technologies of tomorrow with Rolls-Royce SMR as the preferred partner for this journey.”
The SMR project could support up to 3,000 new skilled jobs and power the equivalent of around three million homes.
The state-owned Great British Energy Nuclear will allocate a first site later this year.
Tuesday’s announcement of Rolls-Royce as the preferred bidder came after the Government confirmed financial support for Sizewell C.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain needed new nuclear power capacity to deliver a “golden age of clean energy abundance.”
Trade unions welcomed the Sizewell move, which the Treasury said would create 10,000 jobs, including 1,500 apprenticeships.