ULC-Energy and McDermott back Rolls-Royce SMR plans in Netherlands

McDermott and ULC-Energy signed a cooperation agreement on July 29 to support Rolls-Royce SMR projects in the Netherlands, a step that matters less for headlines than for buildability. The Houston and Amsterdam announcement brings an engineering and construction contractor into a Dutch SMR effort that has already spent years moving from concept work toward something that can be laid out, priced and delivered.

McDermott said the collaboration is meant to support development of Rolls-Royce SMR projects in the Netherlands, including integration of SMR-powered energy solutions with energy-intensive industrial processes. The company said it would draw on its experience in energy transition and industrial decarbonization, including low-carbon hydrogen, ammonia and sustainable aviation fuel. That is the kind of EPC-style input a reactor vendor cannot supply on its own: site layouts, procurement structure, construction sequencing and the practical risk checks that decide whether a nuclear design stays a paper plan or becomes a project.

For Rolls-Royce SMR, the deal extends its international footprint beyond the UK and keeps the Dutch market in play as a possible deployment target. It also fits a pattern ULC-Energy has been building for some time. On January 22, ULC-Energy and Bureau Veritas announced a strategic partnership to cooperate on bringing Rolls-Royce SMRs to the Netherlands, with World Nuclear News describing that effort as aimed at industrial-scale deployment. Rolls-Royce SMR had already signed an exclusive agreement with ULC-Energy on August 25, 2022, to work together on deploying the design in the Netherlands.

ULC-Energy has kept widening the circle around the project. Its news page shows a cooperation with Fugro on June 16, and Equinix said on August 14, 2025, that it was collaborating with ULC-Energy on sustainable AI data center growth in the Netherlands with clean nuclear power. A 2024 ULC-Energy presentation titled Deploying Rolls-Royce SMR in the Netherlands shows the company has been framing the reactor as part of a broader Dutch industrial decarbonization pathway for at least that long.

The new McDermott tie-up does not lock in a reactor site or a final investment decision. It does, however, move the Dutch effort a notch closer to the hard part: proving that the Rolls-Royce SMR can be engineered, built and delivered inside a real Netherlands project, not just discussed as one.