The UK government is to offer grants of £157 million as part of its launch of a new body to support the nuclear power industry.
Great British Nuclear (GBN) will be tasked with helping deliver the government's commitment to provide a quarter of the UK's electricity from nuclear energy by 2050.
The Energy Security Secretary, Grant Shapps, said the new body will help drive rapid expansion of nuclear power plants in the UK, boost energy security, and reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports.
It is hoped that a completion to develop small modular reactors (SMRs) will drive billions of pounds of investment into the technology, which the government hopes will be cheaper and quicker to build than traditional large nuclear power plants.
Nevertheless, environmental campaigners and academics have argued that SMRs have no track record, and that time and resources would be better spent on renewables such as more offshore wind.
The government's previous attempts to attract funding for conventional large reactors have so far only yielded the much delayed and over-budget Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset.
Shapps is expected to announce the winners of the competition in the autumn, with a number of manufacturing firms such as Rolls-Royce and Hitachi interested in developing SMRs.
The government said it was still committed to Hinkley Point C and also Sizewell C, a nuclear power plant in Suffolk that was announced last year and has been backed with £700 million of public funds.
In addition to the competition launch, Shapps announced that up to £157 million of grant funding would be available. There will be up to £77 million to accelerate the development of a nuclear business in the UK and support new designs, and a further £58 million for the development and design of a new advanced modular reactor that operates at higher temperatures.
Shapps said: "Britain has a rich history as a pioneer of nuclear power, having launched the era of civil nuclear power, and I’m proud to be turbocharging its revival and placing our country once again at the forefront of global innovation. By rapidly boosting our homegrown supply of nuclear and other clean, reliable, and abundant energy, we will drive down bills for British homes and make sure the UK is never held to energy ransom by tyrants like [Vladimir] Putin".
"Today, as we open Great British Nuclear and the competition to develop cutting-edge small modular reactor technology, which could result in billions of pounds of public and private sector investment, we are seeing the first brushstrokes of our nuclear power renaissance to power up Britain and grow our economy for decades to come".
Dr Doug Parr, the chief scientist for Greenpeace UK, accused the government of "obsessing" over nuclear power and decried SMRs. He said: "As the government tries to whip up investment for the latest generation of reactors, it is striking how many of the nuclear industry’s speculative claims are being repeated by ministers as fact".
"SMRs have no track record, but initial indications are that the familiar problems of cost overruns and delays will be repeated, and the accumulation of unmanageable waste will continue".
"By continually obsessing about nuclear, the government is taking its eye off the net zero ball, which will have to be delivered through a predominantly renewable, modern electricity grid. No number of SMRs will fix the government’s lacklustre effort to address issues of delayed connections, smart local grids and home efficiency".
Steve Thomas, an Emeritus Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Greenwich, said: "Yet again, the British government has proved credulous to the claims of the nuclear industry that a new generation of technology will solve all the problems of its predecessors".
"SMRs are a long way from being commercially ready and at best will be as uneconomic as existing technology and at worst won’t even be technically feasible. The answers to reaching net zero with electricity are already available – energy efficiency and renewables. This announcement will only divert time and resources from these".
