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) program—a deal covering the first units in what both companies envision as a global SMR fleet.
Under the agreement, Yokogawa will design, engineer, validate, build, test, install, and commission the main control system for Rolls-Royce SMR power plants. Ruth Todd, Operations and Supply Chain Director at Rolls-Royce SMR, called it the power station’s “central nervous system.”
The work will be delivered 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 significant investments to support the project—bolstering the UK’s nuclear supply chain and creating jobs in regions where the first plants are planned.
“Securing a world-class supplier is critical, and we’re proud that a substantial portion of this work will be carried out in the UK and the Czech Republic—creating jobs, developing skills, and driving growth in the regions where our first plants will be built,” Todd said.
A Growing Order Book
The control system deal comes as Rolls-Royce SMR’s project pipeline 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 long-term jobs. Rolls-Royce SMR also has a partnership with Czech utility 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 emission-free energy to power roughly one million homes for at least 60 years.
Yokogawa’s Nuclear Ambitions
For Yokogawa, the agreement represents a major entry point into the emerging SMR market. Koji Nakaoka, Executive Vice President at Yokogawa, said the company would draw on decades of industrial automation expertise to deliver “reliable, high-performance control systems to enable the safe, efficient, and sustainable deployment of nuclear power worldwide.”
Founded in 1915, Yokogawa operates across 62 countries with more than 17,000 employees, providing measurement, control, and information solutions to industries including energy, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
—POWER
