The chief of a British nuclear power plant developer has complained he is being shut out by the Government, even as France courts his business.

Stefano Buono, chief executive of London-based Newcleo, said the UK had frozen his company out of its recent competition to support small modular reactors (SMRs).

Former energy secretary Grant Shapps launched Great British Nuclear in July and the agency promised to back two to four SMR designs with support from a funding pot of up to £20bn.

SMRs are mini-nuclear reactors that can be factory made, making them far cheaper to deploy than traditional reactors. They are seen as the future of nuclear power.

Companies bidding for support from Great British Nuclear include the UK’s Rolls-Royce, which secured £210m of taxpayer money to advance SMRs under Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Newcleo is working on a novel design to burn plutonium as fuel, helping countries like the UK dispose of its stockpile of the dangerous waste, which is expensive to manage.

However, Mr Buono said the Government had declined to consider his company’s Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) for support under the Great British Nuclear programme because of the AMR’s lead cooling system and exotic fuel.

Great British Nuclear is “not considering advanced modular reactors like ours,” he said.

However, France, by comparison, is “extremely proactive”, he said, and providing “incredible support”. The country has handed Newcleo a grant to develop its reactor from a €1bn fund.

Mr Buono added: “They are planning to provide free land for the first reactor.”

He added of Britain: “We hope that we’ll be able to invest in this country. So we focus again on asking for the land to develop our first commercial reactor.”

Mr Buono said his company had been requesting permission to use land in Britain for its SMRs for two years “but there is not a decision of any kind on this”.

Newcleo was founded by Mr Buono, who made his fortune selling cancer treatment developer AAA to Novartis for $3.9bn (£3.2bn) in 2017, reportedly earning him $420m.

The company also has the backing of the Agnelli industrialist family, which made its money from Fiat and Ferrari.

Newcleo joins rivals in expressing their frustration in dealing with what insiders describe as the glacial decision making within the British Government and a revolving door of ministers.

Rolls-Royce boss Tufan Erginbilgic said last month his company was stuck in a “holding pattern” until the UK commits to building the next generation of nuclear power plants.

Since 2019, seven ministers have headed the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and its predecessor, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.