Tom Greatrex on the UK nuclear rebirth: design and delivery notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
Nuclear Industry Association chief executive Tom Greatrex argues that the UK’s nuclear “rebirth” will depend on delivering large gigawatt-scale plants such as Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C alongside a fleet of standardised small modular reactors (SMRs). He points to nuclear’s role in providing firm low‑carbon capacity to stabilise a grid dominated by intermittent offshore wind, with 60‑year design lives and high load factors well above typical renewables. For civil and geotechnical engineers, he stresses repeatable nuclear‑grade design, modular construction, and long‑term skills pipelines as central project constraints.
Technical Brief
- Financing structures are framed around long asset lives, requiring predictable construction schedules and cost control.
- Policy stability is identified as a design constraint, affecting vendor selection and standardisation of nuclear island layouts.
- For other major infrastructure, he suggests similar programme-style planning rather than one‑off project approvals.
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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