Sir John Rose thinks he has a secret weapon. For 50 years Rolls-Royce has kept its nuclear business - building and repairing nuclear reactors for Royal Navy submarines - remarkably quiet. Yesterday, it finally surfaced.

Sir John says he wants to apply Rolls's little-known nuclear skills to the construction of a new generation of civil nuclear power stations - both in the UK and overseas. It sounds like a sensible idea.

With Britain, China, India, the US, South Africa and others all embarking on big new programmes to build reactors, the emerging market is vast.

The World Nuclear Association believes that in the decade after 2015, a new 1,000 megawatt reactor could be completed every five days.

Leaving aside the question of whether or not this is a good thing, Rolls is one of the few large UK companies with the expertise to benefit from it commercially.

There has been such a long hiatus in the construction of large numbers of nuclear plants that there is now a big opportunity to claim a chunk of the new global supply chain.

Sir John is right to try to seize this opportunity for UK plc. Others would be wise to follow.

Rolls also has a surprising new cheerleader for this push into civil nuclear technology.

Having spent much of the past decade overseeing the carve-up and sale of what remained of Britain's once vibrant nuclear industry, the Government has suddenly become its biggest fan.

It fears the UK's nuclear construction effort could be stitched up by French or US companies and would favour the involvement of British companies such as Rolls.

The Government also sees opportunities to export nuclear skills to the Middle East and Asia, thereby creating British jobs and improving its rapidly diminishing reputation as a nation of engineers.

Of course, for Rolls the timing of all this could be useful for an entirely different reason.

Was it pure coincidence that Sir John chose to make the announcement the same week as the grimmest Farnborough Air Show anyone can remember, with orders for new aircraft plunging amid the soaring price of oil?

Perhaps so. Rolls must take care it does not get distracted from its core business. But civil nuclear could prove a good sideline in what is likely to be a few lean years ahead in the market for new jet engines.

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