Fortum and Rolls-Royce SMR explore nuclear power in Finland, Sweden

Rolls Royce is developing several potential SMR sites in Britain, where the government has launched a competition for funding. In the Nordics, Swedish utility Vattenfall is also looking into building two SMRs at existing nuclear sites.

Finland's Fortum and Britain's Rolls-Royce SMR will jointly explore opportunities to deploy small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) in Finland and in Sweden, Fortum said in a statement on Tuesday.

Fortum last year launched a two-year nuclear study of SMRs as well as conventional large reactors in Finland and Sweden, and is also working with French EDF, Swedish Karnfull Next and Finnish Helen in addition to Rolls-Royce SMR. "Any potential investment decision will be made at a later stage," Fortum said.

SMR technology is garnering interest as countries seek to expand low-carbon, flexible power production to cope with growing electricity demand, while large-scale nuclear projects with huge up-front costs have struggled to attract investment. Rolls Royce is developing several potential SMR sites in Britain, where the government has

launched a competition for funding.

In the Nordics, Swedish utility Vattenfall is also looking into building

two SMRs at existing nuclear sites.