Two sites in Yorkshire have been shortlisted for a Rolls-Royce factory to build a small modular reactor, a project that will bring £200m of investment and 200 jobs to the winning site.
The company launched a competition early this year asking developers to bid for the initial plant, which will be the first of three to make "heavy containers" for its small Modular reactor (SMR) power stations.
It is the largest and most complex facility, and construction will begin as soon as Rolls-Royce SMR receives permission to build SMR in the UK, the company said.
Two of the six shortlisted schemes are Richmond in North Yorkshire and Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire. The other locations are Sunderland, Deeside in Wales, Stallingborough in Lincolnshire and Carlisle in Cumbria.
The technical team vetted potential shortlisted sites based on traffic on major road networks, local skills and local incentives for renewable energy generation.
Two other plants will also be built, mainly to build mechanical engineering and plumbing components for the reactors, whose location is yet to be decided, and will come from a list of all areas proposed for the project.
Last month Rolls-Royce said it would only be able to deliver its first small nuclear plant by the target date of 2029 if the government promised to provide the required technology this year.
Rolls-Royce plans to build miniature reactors in factories across the country. The first focus is to build the pressurized vessels that form part of the reactor and then assemble them on site. The company says this construction system could reduce the risks and huge costs associated with building large nuclear plants.
Rolls-Royce has been a designer of nuclear reactor plants since the start of Britain's nuclear submarine programme in the 1950s. It says the Rolls-Royce SMRs will draw on standard nuclear technology that is already used in 400 reactors around the world.
Kwasi Quten, secretary of state for Business Energy and Industrial strategy, said: "This is great news for Sunderland, North Yorkshire, Deesside, Lincolnshire and Carlisle. If these SMR's go ahead, they could be at the forefront of component manufacturing for this UK-made technology. Backed by £210m, SMR has the potential to deliver faster and cheaper low-carbon nuclear power and today's announcement highlights the potential of creating new jobs across the country by embracing this new technology."