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    Amentum JV and Holtec SMRs at Wylfa and Cottam: siting and grid lessons for engineers

    April 1, 2026|

    Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

    Amentum JV and Holtec SMRs at Wylfa and Cottam: siting and grid lessons for engineers

    First reported on New Civil Engineer

    30 Second Briefing

    An Amentum-led joint venture has been appointed to provide engineering services for the UK’s first small modular reactors at Wylfa, targeting multi-unit deployment on the former nuclear site and early integration with existing grid and marine infrastructure. In parallel, Holtec’s 300MWe SMR-300 pressurised water reactor has cleared a key UK regulatory milestone for potential installation at the former Cottam coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire. Together, the projects signal accelerated planning for SMR-ready brownfield sites with established cooling water access and high-voltage export capacity.

    Technical Brief

    • Brownfield nuclear and coal sites impose tight radiological, contamination and asbestos management protocols during demolition and enabling works.
    • SMR modularisation shifts construction logistics towards heavy-lift cranage, large laydown areas and upgraded abnormal-load access routes.
    • For other UK coal and nuclear brownfields, similar SMR-ready attributes (cooling water, grid, planning history) are likely to dominate site selection.

    Our Take

    Our database shows Wylfa recurring across several recent pieces, with Arup, WSP and Mott MacDonald already embedded on foundations, environmental work and the Development Consent Order, so Amentum’s JV role slots into an increasingly crowded but coordinated SMR delivery ecosystem for the site.

    With Holtec now advancing SMR plans at the Cottam coal plant in Nottingham and Rolls‑Royce SMR activity focused at Wylfa, the UK is effectively trialling parallel vendor tracks, which is likely to complicate standardisation but spread supply‑chain and licensing risk across multiple reactor technologies.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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