COVER STORY | MICROREACTOR MOVEMENT
Microreactors and accelerating change
Licensing a microreactor is a new challenge for regulators, which removes some longstanding assumptions about how the industry is structured. Can the US NRC establish a new approach in time to start granting approvals by 2030?
WHEN IS A NUCLEAR REACTOR ‘in operation’? The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC) had to consider its definition of this state, to ensure it applies appropriately to new types of nuclear power plants. Specifically, it has addressed this issue in respect of so-called ‘micro reactors’ – nuclear power plants rated at as little as 2-3 MW, such as that proposed by Hadron Energy (see below). This type of plant will be small enough to be fabricated in a factory and transported on an HGV, to be delivered to its site as a closed unit, operated remotely and removed at the end of its life. Fuel loading and entering operation is an example of how the mobility of microreactors is a fundamental change in the nuclear industry. The current nuclear model has a small number of fixed sites for reactors and fuel cycle facilities, with occasional movements of new or spent fuel between them. In contrast, microreactors may have a large number of small reactor units, which are mobile and may be moved several times over their lifetimes (during the start and finish). A containerised reactor is likely to be fabricated at one or more factory sites. Instead of being loaded with fuel at its eventual operating site, there are several other
options. The reactor may receive its fuel load at the factory, with radiological implications for the factory and the fuel transport process. The containerised reactor could be moved to a fuel cycle facility to be loaded with fuel. Or one company could co-locate a fuel fabrication plant with its reactor assembly, and provide a fuel service to other microreactor suppliers. The fact that there are different business models available is a big change for the industry. In a pre-application regulatory engagement plan (REP)
for its microreactor standardised design, Hadron Energy said key areas identified for early engagement include the regulatory implications of factory manufacturing and testing, transportability, flexible siting approaches, and remote operations, hoping that “early engagement will identify areas where modernization of regulatory processes might benefit future applications”. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been working on the policy framework that will underpin a microreactor nuclear industry. Its consideration of how to define a reactor as being ‘in operation’ came in a recent decision- making in connection with its Factory-Built Microreactor Policy.
Above: Hadron Energy, Inc is developing a 2 MWe standardised microreactor for commercial licensing and deployment 30 | August 2025 |
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