Nuclear Industry Leaders gather at MTC for National Nuclear Manufacturing Conference 2025
Civil Nuclear
UK Nuclear Industry unites to shape the future
MTC proudly hosted the inaugural National Nuclear Manufacturing Conference (NNMC) on 30 June and 1 July 2025, welcoming over 250 delegates, speakers, and exhibitors to its state-of-the-art facilities in Coventry. The event marked a pivotal moment for the UK civil nuclear sector, bringing together government, regulators, and industry leaders to explore how public investment will drive economic growth, job creation, and supply chain revitalisation.
Day one: Innovation, networking & strategic dialogue
Innovation workshop tour
The conference opened with a guided tour of MTC’s Workshop, where around 40 attendees explored cutting-edge capabilities designed to support the modernisation of nuclear manufacturing.
Exclusive industry dinner
Later that evening, 90 invited guests attended a private drinks reception and dinner, featuring representatives from Rolls-Royce SMR & Submarines, Sellafield, Frazer-Nash, Element Materials Technology, Cavendish Nuclear, Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N) and Department for Business & Trade (DBT).
This high-level networking session fostered collaboration across the nuclear innovation ecosystem.
Day two: Insightful keynotes & actionable outcomes
Industry Leaders take the stage
The main conference day featured a powerful line-up of speakers, including:
- Paul Monks (DESNZ)
- Helen Perthen (GBE-N)
- Tom Greatrex (NIA)
- Ruth Todd (Rolls-Royce SMR)
- Paul Foster (Community Nuclear Power)
- Gareth Hopkin (ONR)
- Katherine Bennett (High Value Manufacturing Catapult)
Each speaker addressed the opportunities unlocked by government funding, the commercial pipeline for SMRs and Sizewell C, and the role of innovation in regulatory frameworks.
Panel discussion – The path forward
The afternoon panel session tackled the critical question: “What practical steps must the UK take to maximise the nuclear opportunity?” The discussion emphasised the importance of: Workforce development, Supply chain resilience and Cross-sector collaboration, highlighting how we, as a country and community, need to extract maximum value for the opportunity presented by the government’s commitment to new nuclear.
This was a fantastic event, designed to enable the community to understand how it can maximise the opportunity at hand. We are now equipped with a much more comprehensive view of the developing domestic landscape, with a tangible commercial pipeline to be tackled. It’s an exciting time for nuclear power and this conference amplified the ‘can-do’ culture which will be critical to delivering success. So let’s get on with it.
Andrew Bowfield - Senior Business Development Manager – MTC
Key takeaways from NNMC 2025
- Rolls Royce (SMR & Submarines) acknowledged the capacity crunch and discussed how we can address that to extract maximum value.
- GBE-N confirmed that this was 'just' the 1st award demonstrating that the government is avowedly pro-nuclear with this being the start of the nuclear opportunity.
- The regulators emphasised that they are open to innovation.
- The High Value Manufacturing Catapult committed to determining how it will engage with the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce with representation from key stakeholders in Industry, the supply chain and RTOs.
