Rolls-Royce SMR to explore role of nuclear in sustainable aviation fuel production
Posted on 13 March 2026
Rolls-Royce SMR and project development firm Equilibrion have joined forces to evaluate the use of nuclear energy for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) includes a technical and economic assessment for nuclear-powered SAF using small modular reactors (SMRs).
It will assess how heat and electricity from an SMR power station can be repurposed for industrial processes, such as hydrogen production and synthetic fuel synthesis, due to the respective constant energy input requirements.
The collaboration will explore how Equilibrion’s Eq.flight SAF production system can be powered from Rolls-Royce SMR’s.
Also known as power-to-liquids (PtL) SAF, it contributes to the UK’s clean fuels targets, including the ambition for 22% of aviation fuel to be sustainable by 2040.
Rolls-Royce SMR director of strategy and business development Alan Woods said its SMR technology is designed to “provide clean, affordable and dependable low‑carbon energy, exactly the qualities required to unlock large‑scale SAF production”.
“The technical and economic assessment completed with Equilibrion will enable them to demonstrate how nuclear can power one of the most ambitious decarbonisation challenges in aviation,” Wood’s added.
Wylfa to be home to the UK’s first SMR
In November last year, the government announced that Wylfa on Anglesey in North Wales had been selected as the site to deliver the UK’s first small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power station, with Rolls-Royce SMR winning the contract.
