As the Trump administration in the United States actively encourages the development of small modular reactors (SMRs), more than 20 local SMR corporations are fiercely competing over new technology development, fundraising, and construction permits. The U.S. corporation with the fastest development is NuScale Power, but it is expected to take several more years to reach commercialization.
Some note that the development pace of U.S. corporations is not as fast as known. China and Russia, which are at odds with the United States, are already operating SMRs commercially. Korea is developing the innovative SMR (i-SMR) under government leadership. Experts advise that the government should improve the system and foster the private sector.
According to the nuclear power industry on the 22nd, the second Trump administration, which aims to quadruple nuclear power generation capacity by 2050, is actively pushing SMR regulatory reforms.
U.S. President Donald Trump in May signed an executive order to streamline the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) procedures and reduce the permitting process for new reactors. It urges final decisions within 18 months for new reactor construction and operation applications and within one year for applications to extend the operation of existing reactors.
With a pro-nuclear government taking office, the pace of technology development by U.S. SMR corporations has picked up. The fastest developer is NuScale Power. The corporation received the first-ever design certification from the NRC in U.S. history in Aug. 2020 during the first Trump administration. It means NuScale Power's SMR design meets U.S. safety and environmental standards. It is currently proceeding with the first SMR deployment in Romania with a model that improves economic feasibility. The Romanian government is pushing a project to replace coal-fired power generation with SMR power plants.
Korean corporations are also collaborating. Samsung C&T participated in the basic design of NuScale Power's SMR. Doosan Enerbility made a strategic investment of more than $104 million (about 1526 billion won) in NuScale Power and also signed a main equipment supply contract. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) is cooperating through technology support and local supply chain development.
TerraPower expects to obtain an SMR construction permit from the NRC within the year. TerraPower is developing a non-light-water reactor that uses liquid sodium as a coolant. If a construction permit is issued, it plans to build an SMR at a shuttered coal power plant in Wyoming. SK Group, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Doosan Enerbility have made strategic investments in TerraPower.
Oklo this month signed a Nuclear Safety Design Agreement (NSDA) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for its SMR facility. Oklo is developing a facility that recycles spent nuclear fuel, and the facility's operating plan met DOE requirements. The Oklo reactor is scheduled to be built at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), a DOE-owned site.
Kairos Power in 2023 received the first construction permit from the NRC for an experimental reactor. It is currently building an experimental SMR reactor in Tennessee. The electricity produced there will be 500 megawatts (MW), and Google has agreed to purchase all of it.
X-energy in March requested a design certification review from the NRC. Earlier in Oct. last year, it received a $500 million (about 732.5 billion won) investment from Amazon. Among domestic corporations, DL E&C and Doosan Enerbility made early investments in the form of convertible bonds.
However, some view the news announced by U.S. SMR corporations as somewhat inflated. Jung Beom-jin, a professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Kyunghee University, said, "As competition is fierce, U.S. SMR venture corporations keep publicizing 'we are doing something' as a positive signal to attract investment. In reality, when you look closely, some are not important stages or show no progress."
◇China and Russia already operating SMRs commercially... the task for the Korean-style SMR is "the government"
The nuclear power industry assesses that China and Russia, focusing on SMR technology development under state leadership, have pulled ahead of the United States. The United States has a variety of SMR designs, but development has been slow due to stringent government permitting procedures.
China developed the world's first onshore commercial SMR and is on the verge of commercial operation. Russia is operating a floating nuclear power plant that mounts an SMR on a barge (a flat-bottomed vessel).
Korea is overseeing SMR development through the i-SMR project team under government leadership. The i-SMR aims to complete its standard design this year and obtain permits in 2028. Jung Yong-hoon, a professor in the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering at KAIST, assessed that the SMR development pace in the United States and Korea is similar.
Once the permitting process is completed, the i-SMR project team is scheduled to be dissolved. After that, a consortium involving KHNP and private corporations or another institution is expected to take charge of i-SMR commercialization. Kim Han-gon, i-SMR Director General, said, "All information related to i-SMR is gathered within the project team, and the government needs to pave the way so that commercialization is possible."
Experts agree that government system improvements and fostering of the private sector are needed. Professor Jung Beom-jin said, "In Korea, it takes more than 10 years from the first stage of nuclear development, the conceptual design, to the final stage of receiving safety regulation. U.S. SMR corporations receive investment at the conceptual design stage and proceed very fast by running the government permitting process in parallel. In Korea, interest in SMRs is low, so the permitting process is slow and needs improvement."
Professor Jung Yong-hoon said, "In Korea, nuclear power was halted for 10 years due to the nuclear phaseout policy. Nuclear power should not be affected by changes in administrations. Several large domestic corporations want to pursue SMRs as a future growth engine. Opening the way for private corporations to take the lead is also one option."