Nottingham could become the site of the first small modular reactor (SMR) powered data center in Europe.

This week, US energy firm Holtec International, EDF UK, and London-based investment services group Tritax Management signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of a 1GW data center powered by Holtec’s SMRs at the site of the former Cottam coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire.

The project is planned for a 900-acre site at the site of the former station, which was decommissioned back in 2019. Of the 900 acres, 150 are slated for data centers, with an additional 100 acres reserved for SMRs, which will be developed by EDF using Holtec’s SMR 300 design. Tritax will focus solely on the development of data centers through its dedicated power team.

According to the companies, the Cottam plot is ideally suited for a project of this type, boasting a firm grid connection and the critical infrastructure required for such a project. The project is targeted for operations at the end of the decade and will form part of the Trent Valley Supercluster, which has been submitted as a potential AI Growth Zone to the UK government.

“The Cottam project is another example of the collaboration between EDF and Tritax to deliver projects of scale to accelerate the development of a substantial cluster of data centers,” commented James Dunlop, CEO of Tritax Management.

Power for the data center will initially be supplied via the grid and renewable energy, with the SMR element expected to become operational in the 2030s. The companies did not disclose the capacity that they expect the SMRs will generate.

The Holtec-300 SMR is a proposed 300MW pressurized water reactor. It is intended to be modular and factory-manufactured, utilizing similar components to a traditional nuclear power plant. The design is currently proceeding through regulatory review in both the US and the UK.

Holtec has already announced its intention to build two SMR-300 units at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan to increase the capacity of the plant by almost double.

“The SMR-300s at Cottam represent a potential $15 billion project, creating thousands of local jobs while drawing on the lessons from our Palisades project in Michigan. With this second-of-a-kind deployment, the UK is well positioned to join a global coalition of countries adopting the SMR-300 to drive long-term economic growth,” said Dr Rick Springman, president of Global Clean Energy Opportunities, Holtec.

The companies claim that the Cottam project could create thousands of high-skilled jobs and facilitate foreign investment into the country, including proposed nuclear fuel fabrication and services by Framatome and turbine manufacture by Arabelle Solutions.

Feasibility studies and early-stage investment discussions are already underway. Holtec International and EDF UK are also engaging with relevant parties within the UK and U.S. governments, including Great British Energy – Nuclear and the National Wealth Fund.

“EDF is excited to be exploring this major infrastructure project that could transform both the Cottam site and the wider region. This opens the potential for the area to continue to play a key role in the UK’s energy system for decades to come,” said Simone Rossi, CEO of EDF UK.

Nuclear Alliance

The Cottam deal was only one of several major nuclear power agreements signed between UK and US companies this week, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s state visit to the country.

Four others were announced in the sector, which UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said would usher in “a golden age of nuclear,” putting the country at the “forefront of global innovation.”

The deals included a partnership between US SMR developer X-energy and UK energy firm Centrica to deploy as many as 12 advanced modular reactors at Hartlepool, forming the foundation of a broader UK program targeting 6GW of nuclear capacity.

The Hartlepool site could supply electricity to roughly 1.5 million homes and support up to 2,500 jobs. Across the full rollout, the partners estimate more than £40bn ($51bn) in economic impact, with around £12bn ($15.3bn) directed into the North East region.

The second deal saw microreactor firm Last Energy partner with UK logistics firm DP World to develop one of the world’s first micro modular nuclear plants at the London Gateway port and logistics park. The project, backed by £80m ($102m) in private investment, is intended to secure a clean and reliable power source for the site’s future expansion.

The third agreement saw nuclear enrichment firm Urenco sign a £4m ($5.1m) deal with US microreactor startup Radiant to deliver high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel into the American market. Urenco is currently constructing a government-backed Advanced Fuels Facility in the UK and is also evaluating a similar plant in the US.

Finally, TerraPower, a Bill Gates-backed developer of microreactors, teamed up with engineering firm KBR to explore potential UK locations for its Natrium reactor technology. If built, each plant could potentially generate 1,600 construction roles and 250 permanent positions, while providing flexible nuclear output integrated with gigawatt-scale thermal energy storage.

Commenting on the agreements, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated: “Today’s commercial deals set up a framework to unleash commercial access in both the US and UK, enhancing global energy security, strengthening US energy dominance, and securing nuclear supply chains across the Atlantic.”

All four deals involve companies that have either already partnered with data center companies or have expressed interest in the sector. X-energy has been backed by Amazon, which has made a direct investment in the firm and agreed to offtake power when the company’s product reaches commercialization, via a partnership with US utility Energy Northwest.

Earlier this year, Last Energy signed a deal to build 30 of its 20MW microreactors at a 200-acre site in Haskell County, Texas, to serve the US data center market.

Last month, California microreactor firm Radiant inked a deal with colo data center developer Equinix to supply the data center developer with 20 of its 1.2MWe Kaleidos microreactors.

Finally, in January, TerraPower signed an MoU with Sabey Data Centers (SDC) to explore the deployment of its 345MW sodium-cooled Natrium microreactor at SDC’s current and future data center operations.