The partnership will combine the companies’ technical, commercial, and organisational capabilities to develop, test, and license EAGL-1. AtkinsRéalis will serve as the exclusive engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) provider for EAGL-1 projects in North America, including the integrated EAGL-1 reactor, fuel fabrication, and recycling facilities. It will also support testing and licensing validation to enable EAGL-1 to begin delivering power at scale by 2033, FANCO said.
EAGL-1 is a lead-bismuth cooled fast-spectrum small modular reactor (SMR) which can operate in a closed-fuel cycle in which used fuel is continuously reprocessed and reused. FANCO submitted a regulatory engagement plan for the 240 MWe SMR to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in April, marking the start of its pre-application engagement with the regulator.
“SMR technology is an important part of the energy mix needed to create stable, affordable, and reliable power grids that meet the energy needs of economies and communities worldwide,” AtkinsRéalis President and CEO Ian Edwards said. “This partnership with FANCO marks an important step in delivering innovative and scalable nuclear technology precisely when the United States is embracing a new era of energy leadership.”
The alliance agreement spans 20 years and contemplates services worth up to USD250 million over the first 5 years. Work has already begun on task orders, AtkinsRéalis said. Under the first task orders, it will prepare procedures and policies required to do design work, such as a quality programme and engineering procedures. It will also undertake the conceptual design for the balance of plant and review the design of the nuclear steam supply system.
FANCO says its system will focus on mixed-oxide fuel and other transuranic fuels sourced from existing US Department of Energy stockpiles, although the EAGL-1 system is also capable of operating on high-assay low-enriched uranium. This “fuel-agnostic” approach means it can avoid major supply chain bottlenecks while helping reduce the nation’s stockpile of long-term nuclear waste, the company says. Its BridgePower solution offers customers the ability to generate immediate power using off-the-shelf package boilers that feed steam turbines, and later seamlessly transitions to nuclear energy by replacing the boilers with the EAGL-1 reactor, using the same turbine infrastructure, with minimal equipment and modification costs.
“AtkinsRéalis and First American Nuclear create the energy dream team the country needs right now,” FANCO CEO Mike Reinboth said. “Together, we combine highly specialised expertise in advanced nuclear reactors and fuels with expansive operational scale and world-class engineering resources to bring affordable, reliable nuclear energy to the US as expeditiously as possible.”
AtkinsRéalis has served as the architect-engineer on the Darlington New Nuclear Project team, which is working to deploy a BWRX-300 SMR in Ontario, since 2023 and has supported the Rolls Royce SMR program in the UK with design and engineering expertise since 2018, as well as acting as the Owner’s Engineer for Energy Northwest’s SMR project in Washington state since 2024.
