Talk:Rolls-Royce PWR

The references to PWR3 being based on US reactors is misleading. Direct quote from source

"The Ministry of Defence is now designing the PWR3 power plant for the successor to the Vanguard Class that will come into service in 2028 and remain operational until at least 2060. This offers the next opportunity for a significant step change in the design of the submarine PWR.

Support from the US has helped us to innovate design in PWR3 to the highest international technical and safety standards, whilst, in addition, training UK designers and engineers in US advances in reactor plant design. While the existing PWR design continues to meet all of the required safety standards PWR3 can now be designed to be even more efficient, easier to operate, better value for money, and to set new standards of safety."

My understanding was that the US had moved away from PWRs and are now operating a convection reactor — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.224.129.81 (talk) 15:25, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

Cost of Rolls Royce PWR3 reactors
The text presently states " The PWR3 cost about £50 million more per boat to purchase and operate compared to PWR2 designs. "

The PWR2 section fails to mention cost estimates for the PWR2 reactor. So the PWR3 cost information is without context and meaningless.

The last para of the PWR3 section says:

> In June 2012, the MoD awarded Rolls-Royce a £600 million contract to produce reactors for the Dreadnought-class and also for the final boat of the Astute-class HMS Agincourt. The MoD also awarded Rolls-Royce a further £500 million to refurbish their Rolls-Royce Marine Power Operations reactor core manufacturing plant at Derby to manufacture the PWR3 and to extend the plant's operational life to 2056. In January 2020, the National Audit Office reported that the construction of the plant was five years behind schedule and was now forecast to be in service in 2026.

With the four submarines under construction only we can determine a ball park number of £11 Billion without adjusting for inflation => £2,750 per PWR3 reactor/submarine. Obviously further orders may reduce the price through amortisation of spent costs but that's speculation. There may be other hidden cost, like unmentioned ongoing maintenance contracts to Rolls Royce to maintain the seaworthiness of the PWR3 reactors.

I checked some of the references and didn't find any good estimates for a per reactor PWR3 price tag.

WideEyedPupil (talk) 07:05, 6 March 2024 (UTC)


 * £2,750 in 2012 → £3,766.67 in 2024 (using an online inflation calculator on 6/3/24) WideEyedPupil (talk) 07:07, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * sorry £11 Billion per reactor, divided by four => £275,000,000 per reactor (2012 British pounds Stirling currency) => £376,667,170 pounds in 2024 terms (=> 734,086,570 AUD 2024) WideEyedPupil (talk) 07:38, 6 March 2024 (UTC)