SMRS & ADVANCED REACTORS | SMR SCORE CARD
Above: Construction site of the Linglong One reactor, the world’s first land- based commercial small modular reactor (SMR) located in Hainan Province, China. Source: Atomic Energy 2.0
2023. In late 2024, In late 2024, NRC also approved the construction permit for Hermes 2, a two-unit plant that will include power generation. Kairos Power plans deployment of a commercial-scale plant in the 2030s. Westinghouse’s AP300 (US) is a 300 MWe one-loop PWR
based on the licensed and operating AP1000 pressurised light water technology. In 2024, it received approval to enter the UK GDA. Detailed design completion scheduled for 2027 and commercial operation for 2033. An earlier design for a 225 MWe integral PWR (Westinghouse SMR) was suspended in favour of the AP300. Rolls Royce SMR (UK) is a 470 MWe three-loop PWR, It has
Below: China has brought its two demonstration HTR- PM high-temperature gas-cooled micro- pebble reactors at the Shidaowan NPP in Shandong Province to full capacity. Source: China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC)
completed Step 2 of the UK’s GDA process and progressed to the third and final phase with expected completion in August 2026. Construction is planned to start in 2027. The design was selected by Great British Energy - Nuclear (GBE-N) for the first UK SMRs at Wylfa, aiming for grid power by the mid-2030s. The project is progressing with key partnerships, including Amentum as programme delivery partner, and is moving towards final contracts, manufacturing, and site preparation, while also exploring international opportunities in Sweden and the Czech Republic. These 15 projects are among the 70 described in
detail in the Catalogue 2024. However, it is notable that of the 11 projects currently being fast-tracked by the US Department of Energy (DOE) under the Reactor Pilot Program announced in August 2925, only one, Oklo’s Aurora
Powerhouse, is listed in the catalogue. DOE is working with industry on these 11 projects, aiming to construct, operate, and achieve criticality of at least three test reactors by 4 July, 2026 in line with President Trump’s May Executive Order 14301, Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy. Oklo is developing the Aurora powerhouse, a 75 MWe liquid metal–cooled, metal-fuelled fast reactor. Oklo’s first reactor is being built at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) with plans to begin operation in 2027. However, the NENP/ NPTDS map lists it as in the conceptual design stage. Asked by NEI whether he thought any of the 11 would meet the July 2026 deadline, Frederik Reitsma replied: “I think so, but the question is, what does it mean? It’s probably just a critical facility that they can put together. If they are successful it means just another demonstration step towards deployment.” The other 10 projects are: Antares Nuclear’s R1- A 500-kWt sodium heat pipe–cooled microreactor that has already received its Nuclear Safety Design Agreement (NSDA) from DOE; Atomic Alchemy’s Versatile Isotope Production Reactor, a 15-MWt light water reactor designed for radioisotope production; Deep Fission’s Deep Fission Borehole Reactor-1, a 15-MWe PWR intended to be built one mile underground; Last Energy’s PWR-5, 5 MWe scaled- down test version of their 20 MWe PWR-20 modular reactor design; Natura Resources’ MSRR, a 1 MWt research molten salt reactor being developed in partnership with Abilene Christian University; Oklo’s Project Pluto, an advanced fast reactor project; Radiant Industries’ Kaleidos, a 1 MWe helium-cooled microreactor scheduled for testing at INL’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) facility; Terrestrial Energy’s Project TETRA, a test reactor based on 195 MWe Integral Molten Salt Reactor technology; and Valar Atomics’ Ward250, a 100 kWt helium-cooled, TRISO-fuelled HTGR that broke ground in September 2025. Clearly, these companies failed to provide IAEA with
updated information on their projects as they race to achieve criticality. The leading projects in Catalogue 2024, on the other hand, have already achieved, or are approaching, real deployment. The Catalogue can be downloaded from the IAEA website as a PDF document. In addition, in 2025, IAEA published TECDOC-2110 -
Approaches to and Preparation for the Operation of Small Modular Reactors, also available from the IAEA website. The IAEA noted that international organisations have published a wide range of resources on SMRs, addressing topics such as design, technology, engineering, economics, safety, safeguards, security and infrastructure development. However, operational readiness for SMRs has not yet been specifically covered by existing publications. To address the identified gaps in technical publications for member states, the IAEA initiated a dedicated collaboration among its internal experts in various fields, including nuclear power engineering and nuclear power technology development. As part of this collaboration, a task force was formed to develop the 79-page TECDOC, which presents state of the art information on commissioning, the approach to criticality, connection to the grid, operational limits and conditions, load following operation, assurance of fuel and component integrity, main control room arrangement, human–machine interface and management of operating personnel. Information on SMRs is available on the Advanced Reactor Information System (ARIS) database.■
28 | March 2026 |
www.neimagazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45
