Small Modular Reactors: Nuclear's Next Act? - Ep116: Tom Samson

This week on Cleaning Up, Michael welcomes Tom Samson, CEO of Rolls-Royce SMR. Rolls-Royce SMR are among a raft of new companies innovating in the field of Small Modular Reactors, hoping to provide nuclear energy in smaller, more repeatable modules at a lower price point than traditional gigawatt-scale reactors. 

Michael had questions for Samson on nuclear’s “desperately poor track record” for price control, the practicalities of factory-building a nuclear reactor, and the feasibility of nuclear finding a role in an energy landscape full of increasingly cheap renewables. 

Like, subscribe and share for more insights and in-depth interviews from the front-line of the net-zero transition.

Links and Related Episodes: 

Learn more about Rolls-Royce SMR: https://www.rolls-royce-smr.com/about-us 

Watch a walkthrough of Rolls-Royce SMR’s nuclear technology here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jmp-z5bzmE 

Watch Cleaning Up Episode 5 with Kirsty Gogan, “Fighting for Nuclear”: https://www.cleaningup.live/episode-5-kirsty-gogan/ 

Watch Cleaning Up Episode 94 with Julia Pyke, “The Fight for GW Nuclear”: https://www.cleaningup.live/ep94-julia-pyke-the-case-for-gw-nuclear/ 

Watch Cleaning Up Episode 74 with Francesco Starace: https://www.cleaningup.live/ep74-francesco-starace-europes-clean-power-leader/ 

Watch Cleaning Up Episode 97 with Julio Freidmann: https://www.cleaningup.live/ep97-julio-friedmann-the-carbon-wrangler/ 

Guest Bio 

Tom Samson is the CEO of Rolls-Royce SMR Limited. He has over 30 years of experience in the power industry in various senior level executive positions in the UK and internationally. Samson joined Marubeni Corporation in 2009, where he undertook a number of CEO and Board-level assignments in the UAE and USA. Samson was appointed Chief Operating Officer for ENEC in the UAE in 2012, where he helped establish Nawah Energy as the operator of Barakah, the first nuclear power plant in the region. Samson was appointed CEO and Board member at NuGeneration Ltd in 2015, which was responsible for developing a new nuclear power station at Moorside in Cumbria. In early 2020 Samson joined Rolls-Royce to lead their SMR Consortium and is a Board Member of Rolls-Royce SMR Limited. 

Samson holds a degree from Edinburgh Napier University in Energy Engineering. Samson began his career as a Chartered Engineer at GEC Alstom designing combined cycle gas-fired power plants.