There is a major push in the aviation industry to make it greener. Even though Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is a major talking point, the current supply covers less than 1% of what the world needs. To address this, two British companies are looking at nuclear energy to power a new-school solution.

Equilibrion and Rolls-Royce SMR just signed a deal to see if they can use “factory-built” nuclear reactors to churn out jet fuel. The goal is to use the steady heat and electricity from Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to power Equilibrion’s fuel production system, known as Eq.flight.

Why They Chose Nuclear

Making synthetic fuel takes an abundant amount of energy. Most renewable sources, like wind or solar, are great, but they fluctuate. Nuclear, however, is different because it’s always running. This consistency is exactly what you need for an industrial process that turns electricity and heat into liquid fuel.

If this works, a single Rolls-Royce SMR could help produce over 160 million liters of SAF every year. To put that in perspective, that’s about a third of the UK’s 2040 target for this specific type of jet fuel.

“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.” Caroline Longman, Director at Equilibrion. “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.”

A Path to 2030

The project is backed by a grant from the Department for Transport so that Equilibrion could have a UK-based demonstration ready by 2030. They want to prove that this isn’t just technically possible, but that it actually makes financial sense.

“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,” said Alan Woods, Director of Strategy and Business Development for Rolls-Royce SMR. “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 hope is that by combining these two technologies, the UK can secure its own fuel supply and create thousands of jobs while finally getting those aviation emissions under control.