A wave of new U.S.-U.K. deals ahead of Trump’s state visit

President Trump will arrive in the United Kingdom this week for a state visit that promises to include the usual pomp and ceremony alongside the signing of a landmark new agreement on U.S.-U.K. nuclear collaboration.

Ahead of this new agreement, no fewer than 10 companies in the nuclear sector have announced their entering into various transatlantic deals to support development across the industry.

The agreement: The full text of the teased agreement is yet to emerge. However, a press release from the U.K. government details that the pact will allow the U.K. to better pursue its clean energy goals while simultaneously enabling companies in both countries to build new nuclear power projects quicker. This expediting will be done, in part, by reducing total licensing timeframes from "roughly three or four years to roughly two."

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband both called the agreement a move that will usher in a new "golden age of nuclear" in the U.K.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright was no less optimistic, saying, "Today's commercial deals set up a framework to unleash commercial access in both the U.S. and U.K., enhancing global energy security, strengthening U.S. energy dominance, and securing nuclear supply chains across the Atlantic."

X-energy and Centrica: Press releases from the companies named by the U.K. shortly followed, each diving into further details on their respective projects. U.S. small modular reactor developer X-energy and U.K. energy company Centrica made perhaps the biggest waves with their entrance into a joint development agreement to deploy a 6-gigawatt fleet of X-energy's Xe-100 SMRs across the U.K. The Xe-100 is an 80-MWe high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) that the company plans to deploy typically in four-reactor, 320-MWe units. This means that the companies plan to deploy about 75 Xe-100s, potentially in the form of about 18 four-packs, ultimately mobilizing up to $54 billion in economic value.

The first of these deployments may come to the Hartlepool site in the form of a 12-unit plant adding 960 MWe of new capacity. This plant would be built beside the existing nuclear power plant at Hartlepool, which is set to shut down in 2028. This isn't X-energy's first time planning for the Hartlepool site. In 2024, the company was funded alongside U.K.-based Cavendish Nuclear by the U.K. government to develop the HTGR. As part of that project, the companies drew up plans for a 12-reactor plant at Hartlepool. Centrica's entry into this project now seems to build on this prior work.

Holtec and EDF: Alongside real estate partner Tritax, Holtec and EDF UK confirmed that they have signed an MOU to collaborate on the deployment of Holtec's SMR-300 at the former Cottam coal-fired power station to power new data centers on the site. According to Holtec, the 900-acre Cottam site is ideal for new nuclear because of its existing energy infrastructure and grid connection. Holtec called Cottam a second-of-a-kind deployment, referring to its plans to deploy two SMR-300s at Palisades NPP in Michigan.

While Holtec did not explicitly state how many reactors it plans for Cottam, the company did say that "installed as a pair, two SMR-300 reactors will together generate over 680 MW of baseload electric power," adding that the Cottam site has ample space for "several additional sets" of reactors.

Last Energy and DP World: U.S. microreactor developer Last Energy signed an MOU with DP World, a U.K. logistics and trade company, to investigate the deployment of a microreactor at London Gateway, a port within the Port of London on the River Thames. The microreactor in question would be Last Energy's PWR-20. This new deployment would coincide with DP World's ongoing £1 billion expansion of the port. The project is backed by £80 million in private investment. Domestically, Last Energy was recently named as part of the Department of Energy's Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program and plans to deploy 30 of its reactors in Texas.

Urenco and Radiant: On the fuel side, U.S. microreactor developer Radiant signed an advanced fuels agreement with uranium enrichment company Urenco, which is owned by two German utilities and the governments of the U.K. and the Netherlands. The agreement will supply high-assay low-enriched uranium to Radiant to support its 1-MWe Kaleidos reactor. Another member of the Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, Radiant is currently planning to test its reactor at Idaho National Laboratory's DOME (Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments) and was also selected to receive HALEU from the DOE.

TerraPower and KBR: U.S. reactor developer TerraPower and U.S. engineering company KBR announced plans to jointly conduct studies on potential sites for the deployment of TerraPower's Natrium reactor and energy storage system in the U.K. This announcement reemphasizes plans already announced in April by TerraPower. In April, the company engaged with the U.K. government to formally establish its intention to enter the generic design assessment process.

Much more to come: With more potential deals on the horizon, alongside analysis of the implications of a new regulatory landscape, the text of the government agreement itself, and expected further commentary from government and industry alike, it's safe to say that today's wave of announcements will be followed by much more in the coming days, weeks, and months on the particulars of U.S.-U.K. nuclear collaboration.