More than 1000 participants from some 100 countries attended the first International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International Conference on Small Modular Reactors and their Applications in Vienna.

In his opening address, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said: “For those of us like me who have been working in this fascinating field for more than four decades, small and modular reactors have been mentioned and talked about for many, many years, considering them a possibility, something that could happen at some point in a not very clear future. Now, this is happening.”

He added: “When we talk about small modular reactors here at the IAEA, we do it in a different way. First of all, with a great sense of responsibility, because we know that behind the interesting features, behind the alluring aspects of this technology, there are issues that we have to be looking after. And no place other than the IAEA is the good place to do it, because in this house, like today, with this packed room of women and men dealing with energy issues and with nuclear issues, here is where we look at the problem from all possible angles…. SMRs are here. The opportunity is here.”

Later, during a panel discussion, Grossi said that to enable the widespread construction of SMRs there was a need to adapt to a new business model. “If a small modular reactor model is going to succeed, a profound revolution is needed in terms of how to adapt the use of commercially available equipment, like other industries do, and how to work together so that regulators from across the world can leverage other regulator’s approaches and reviews.”

As well as panel discussions and poster sessions the conference included a range of side events. Main topics covered included covering SMR design, technology and the fuel cycle; legislative and regulatory frameworks; safety, security and safeguards; and considerations to facilitate deployment of SMRs.

In parallel with the conference, the Nuclear Harmonisation & Standardisation Initiative (NHSI) held a plenary meeting prior to the conference opening. NHSI was launched in 2022 to facilitate the deployment of safe and secure SMRs and other advanced reactors by harmonising regulatory approaches and standardising industrial approaches.

Discussions covered four main topic areas:

  • SMR Design, Technology and Fuel Cycle: This included research and development of SMR designs (water-cooled reactors, gas-cooled reactors, molten-salt reactors, liquid metal-cooled reactors, and microreactors for both electricity generation and non-electric applications); advanced fuel designs and anticipated challenges of the nuclear fuel cycle including High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) and high burnup fuels; engineering, codes and standards; supply chain; operation and maintenance and decommissioning of SMRs; and waste generation and management, including transport of SMR used fuel and waste.
  • Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks: This included the applicability and suitability of the existing international legally binding instruments in the areas of nuclear safety, security, safeguards, and civil liability for nuclear damage; the potential impact of SMRs on national nuclear laws, as well as on regulatory roles and functions; other relevant areas of law, such as environmental law, law of the sea and maritime law; and regulatory approaches, including the licensing steps depending on deployment scenarios, the application of relevant safety standards and nuclear security guidance, as well as cooperation among regulators.
  • Safety, Security and Safeguards: This included safety demonstration for SMRs, challenges and opportunities related to safety by design, such as design simplification, integration, modularity and new SMR deployment models; emergency preparedness and response for new SMR deployment models; physical protection considerations and computer security aspects of novel technologies applied to SMRs, in addition to security by design; safeguards by design and technical solutions to cope with specificities of safeguards implementation for SMRs; and challenges related to safety, security, and safeguards interfaces in the context of innovations in SMR technologies.
  • Considerations to Facilitate Deployment of SMRs. This included energy planning to meet energy demand and climate goals; integration of SMRs in energy systems with large shares of renewables; nuclear infrastructure including capacity building; stakeholder engagement; financing, cost and economic appraisals; contracting approaches; revenue models for demonstrating business case and viable deployment and business models; and international cooperation for harmonisation and standardisation.

The third plenary meeting of NHSI, held prior to the opening to the International Conference on Small Modular Reactors and their Applications, covered progress so far, as well as discussions on the suggested direction for the next phase. Grossi opened the meeting, saying: “Hardly a day passes without very exciting news of some company striking a deal or somebody saying that it’s going to be doing something important and exciting in SMRs. NHSI is about what goes behind the headlines, what goes behind the expectations.”

He added that the global deployment of SMRs will need a degree of regulatory convergence. “We’re not aiming at unison, as it’s impossible, but without some degrees of concrete collaboration where we can leverage what others are doing, the business model of modularity and flexibility is simply not going to work.”

Aline des Cloizeaux, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Nuclear Power, explained the vision of the project is to “to make nuclear simpler while keeping it safe and secure”. She added: “We are paving the way for SMR projects that are faster, simpler and more economical to deploy.”

The industry track of NHSI, which involved 200 contributors from more than 30 countries, has worked in four main areas of harmonisation, including end user requirements, and collaboration on computer codes for monitoring the safety and performance of advanced nuclear reactors. The short-term goals are to map pathways and reduce timelines and costs to both vendors and customers; to facilitate common approaches for regulatory approvals; and to gather lessons learned from SMR deployment models – with the long-term goal of preparing industry, end-users and countries for large-scale SMR deployment.

Anna Hajduk Bradford, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Nuclear Installation Safety, explained the goals of the regulatory track of the initiative. “The long-term aspiration of the NHSI regulatory track is the development of a global framework for regulatory reviews of advanced reactors. This is an ambitious goal.” Steps towards that goal include building a high level of trust among regulatory bodies and an understanding of commonalities and differences among regulatory frameworks in different countries.

NHSI has been working closely with national regulators while “always ensuring the member states’ keep their own sovereignty and decision making,” Bradford noted. “In addition, we envisage the establishment of a dedicated working group on nuclear security of SMRs, which will serve as another important resource for member states.”

There was widespread agreement on the value of the work done in the first phase of the work, and the direction planned for the second phase, with many topics raised for ongoing consideration. Christer Viktorsson, Director General of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) of the United Arab Emirates said the initiative is having an effect and is already creating momentum for working towards harmonisation and standardisation.

Paul Fyfe from the United Kingdom’s Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said cooperation and collaboration between industry and regulators is key. Marcus Nichol Executive Director for New Nuclear from the US Nuclear Energy Institute noted: “We share your visions that you articulated for both the industry track and to facilitate the regulatory frameworks and reduce unnecessary design changes.

NHSI is now moving to the next phase, which will be to implement many of the recommendations from the working groups. Phase II will also focus on providing tools to help understand regulatory commonalities and differences better, it will examine technology-specific user requirements and explore what is needed to facilitate the approval of what is known as long-lead items.

The IAEA supports countries in deploying SMRs through a range of activities including technical assistance, capacity building, information sharing and coordination of research and development efforts. The IAEA Platform on Small Modular Reactors and their Applications serves as the focal point for the IAEA’s work in this area, providing coordinated support and expertise from across the Agency in all aspects relevant to the development, early deployment and oversight of SMRs. The SMR Platform is designed to facilitate cooperation and collaboration among member states and other stakeholders, supporting the safe and secure deployment of SMRs worldwide.