LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The British government's

competition to select companies to develop small modular nuclear

reactors (SMRs) is on track to reach a decision in the spring,

the country's nuclear body said on Friday, launching the final

invitation to tender.

Four vendors remain in the competition for what could be

government contracts worth billions of pounds: Rolls Royce

, Westinghouse, Holtec Britain and GE-Hitachi Nuclear

Energy - an alliance between General Electric Co ( GE ) and

Japan's Hitachi Ltd. ( HTHIF )

Successive British governments have championed the benefits

of SMRs - effectively small-scale nuclear plants - in search of

a way to avoid the high upfront costs, planning delays and

difficulty of securing investors associated with larger plants.

Earlier in February, Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to

free up more sites for nuclear energy developments across

England and Wales, hoping to attract private investment to help

power energy-hungry development such as artificial intelligence

data centres.