The United States government has shown significant interest in expanding the country’s nuclear energy industry in recent months, and this does not just mean the enlargement of conventional power plants. President Trump has signed several executive orders aimed at developing the U.S. nuclear power capacity through both traditional and innovative methods. In addition to building new nuclear reactors, the U.S. will also develop its small modular reactor (SMR) technology to help accelerate the rollout of nuclear power.
What are Small Modular Reactors?
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors. SMRs, which can produce a large amount of low-carbon electricity, are:
- Small – physically a fraction of the size of a conventional nuclear power reactor.
- Modular – making it possible for systems and components to be factory-assembled and transported as a unit to a location for installation.
- Reactors – harnessing nuclear fission to generate heat to produce energy.
SMRs have grown in popularity in recent years as companies worldwide have invested in the development of small reactors that can be manufactured in factories before being shipped to the site to be assembled. Their innovative, streamlined design makes them more affordable and easier to produce than conventional reactors, many of which are custom-made.
In addition, SMRs can be deployed incrementally, so the more reactors there are on site, the more power they can produce. This allows companies to expand operations as needed. SMRs can be installed into an existing grid or remotely off-grid, helping to avoid the complicated task of developing new power infrastructure.
Could SMRs Transform the Nuclear Power Industry?
Several U.S. companies have invested heavily in the development of SMR technology, which has garnered significant interest from the federal government and various industries looking to power operations.
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Bill Gates’ nuclear innovation startup TerraPower have been developing their SMR technology for several years, and, after several delays, in December, it was given the green light from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build a reactor in Wyoming.
TerraPower’s Natrium design combines an SMR with an integrated thermal battery, with the potential to generate 345 MW of continuous electrical power. The thermal battery lets the system increase its output to 500 MW for over five hours, producing enough energy to power 400,000 homes at maximum capacity.
This followed news from earlier this year that NuScale Power’s 77 megawatt-electric (MWe) SMR design had been approved. This was the company’s second SMR design to gain approval. In September, NuScale announced a collaboration with the Tennessee Valley Authority and ENTRA1 Energy to deploy up to 6 GW of its SMR technology.
Several tech companies have invested in SMR companies in recent months to establish long-term clean energy strategies to power their data centers. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Alphabet are some of the companies to have invested in SMR projects.
$800 Million in Federal Funding
In addition to private investment, the SMR sector is also attracting federal funding and support from President Trump. In December, the Department of Energy (DoE) announced the selection of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Holtec Government Services to support early deployments of advanced light-water small modular reactors (SMRs) in the United States.
Project teams will be given up to $800 million in federal cost-shared funding to advance initial projects in Tennessee and Michigan. This is expected to help accelerate the rollout of new nuclear power by the early 2030s.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright stated of the funding, “President Trump has made clear that America is going to build more energy, not less, and nuclear is central to that mission… Advanced light-water SMRs will give our nation the reliable, round-the-clock power we need to fuel the President’s manufacturing boom, support data centers and AI growth, and reinforce a stronger, more secure electric grid. These awards ensure we can deploy these reactors as soon as possible.”
Development Constraints
While there are high hopes around the potential for SMRs to provide abundant clean power in the coming years, no such reactors are currently under construction in the United States, and there are still uncertainties around whether the technology can provide power as cheaply as larger conventional reactors.
In 2024, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) assessed the data available from the four SMRs that were in operation or under construction at that point. The IEEFA research showed that SMRs were still too expensive, too slow to build, and too risky to play a significant role in transitioning from fossil fuels in the coming 10 to 15 years.
However, with significant funding coming from both the public and private sectors in various countries around the globe, the SMR industry is expected to expand at an accelerated pace in the coming years.
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