Rolls-Royce SMR, a small modular reactor developer majority-owned by Rolls-Royce, and project development company Equilibrion announced that they have signed a new MOU aimed at assessing the technical and economic feasibility of producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).
Generally produced from resources such as waste oils and agricultural residues, SAF is seen as one of the key tools to help decarbonize the aviation industry in the near- to medium-term. According to a recent report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), however, while SAF production nearly doubled in 2025, it still accounted for just 0.6% of airlines’ total fuel consumption. Efforts to meaningfully increase the production of SAF face barriers including high initial costs and feedstock challenges.
According to Rolls-Royce SMR and Equilibrion, the new collaboration combines their respective expertise in SMR and SAF production technologies to evaluate whether SMR-powered fuel plants could enable the large-scale production of synthetic aviation fuel.
Under the new collaboration, Equilibrion’s Eq.flight proprietary modular system, which produces SAF at commercial scale and with lower lifecycle emissions than other technologies, will be applied to produce e-SAF using electricity and heat—also known as power-to-liquids (PtL) SAF. Rolls-Royce will contribute its expertise in SMR technology, designed to generate low-carbon electricity with high reliability and flexible deployment.
Alan Woods, Director of Strategy and Business Development for Rolls-Royce SMR, said:
“Our SMR technology is designed to provide clean, affordable and dependable low-carbon energy, exactly the qualities required to unlock large-scale sustainable aviation fuel production. The technical and economic assessment completed with Equilibrion will enable them to demonstrate how nuclear can power one of the most ambitious decarbonisation challenges in aviation.”
The companies said that the technologies have the potential to produce more than 160 million liters of SAF per year per Rolls-Royce SMR, meeting around a third of the UK’s target to have power-to-liquids SAF reach 3.5% of total jet fuel supply by 2040.
Caroline Longman, Director at Equilibrion, said:
“Aviation will only meet its climate commitments if SAF becomes available in large, dependable volumes. Nuclear-derived fuel production offers the reliability, scalability and low-carbon intensity needed to deliver that future. Delivering nuclear-enabled SAF also creates long-term, high-quality employment—each Eq.flight facility has the potential to generate around 10,000 skilled local jobs over its lifetime.”
