CorporatePower and heat generation
McDermott and ULC-Energy expand cooperation on Rolls-Royce SMR applications
The agreement focuses on nuclear-powered industrial energy systems and builds on an earlier hydrogen-integration study.
- Event
- First published on EPC Feed
- Sources
- 1 listed below
- Reading time
- 1 min
McDermott and ULC-Energy have signed a cooperation agreement supporting development of Rolls-Royce small modular reactor projects in the Netherlands. Announced on 29 July 2026, the relationship includes integration of nuclear-powered energy solutions with energy-intensive industrial processes. It is a cooperation milestone, rather than an award to construct a specified reactor or confirmation that a particular industrial site has entered nuclear-powered operation.
The companies identify potential links with low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia, sustainable aviation fuel, and carbon capture and utilisation. ULC-Energy is developing modular nuclear projects with Rolls-Royce SMR as the selected technology supplier. The release also places McDermott within ULC-Energy's wider partner network, while providing no specific reactor count, power rating or construction start date for a new project under this agreement.
The relationship builds on a 2023 study of industrial hydrogen production combining a Rolls-Royce SMR plant with a solid oxide electrolyser. ULC-Energy coordinated that study, and McDermott supplied engineering design and cost input for balance-of-plant and heat-integration systems. This is historical study work, not evidence that the combined system has since been built or that its projected economics have been demonstrated in operation.
EPC Feed sees the industrial interface as the most useful feature of the announcement. A reactor technology and an industrial process need a defined relationship between energy supply, demand and supporting systems before they can be treated as one deliverable project. The earlier study identifies some of the engineering subjects considered, but the new agreement does not disclose a final integrated design or a performance guarantee for a named facility.
For project tracking, cooperation and execution should therefore remain separate milestones. The agreement describes who will examine opportunities together and the applications they intend to consider. A later project-specific decision would need to identify the customer, scope and delivery responsibilities, alongside the approvals required for that development. Until such information is reported, the reliable update is the expanded collaboration and its stated industrial focus, with deployment and achieved performance left to future evidence.
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