Small modular reactors (SMRs) are moving beyond R&D to become first-of-a-kind (FOAK) market-ready infrastructure.
The Nuclear Energy Agency’s (NEA) Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Dashboard: Third Edition, which tracks progress through February 2025, reveals a trail of innovation with 127 SMR designs identified globally, of which 74 have reached the transparency threshold required for deep strategic analysis.
These projects are the cornerstone of a new global energy strategy driven by electricity demand from a hyper-digitalised economy and the need for dispatchable power to anchor grids increasingly reliant on intermittent renewables.
Big Tech’s nuclear bet
While the sector was once the exclusive domain of state-owned utilities, a surge of private capital is fundamentally altering the financing landscape. The NEA currently identifies approximately $15.4 billion in capital flowing toward SMR development.
Driving this momentum are global technology titans like Google, Amazon and Meta, alongside industrial giants like Dow Chemical. These players are moving into the front-of-the-meter environment to secure dedicated energy for massive data centres.
Unlike industrial heat users seeking behind-the-meter physical integration, Big Tech is using virtual power purchase agreements (vPPAs) to signal market pull and secure clean energy certificates without necessarily owning the reactor hardware.
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From economies of scale to economies of multiples
The traditional nuclear strategy relied on economies of scale, building larger units to lower unit costs. SMRs invert this logic, pursuing economies of multiples.
The SMR economic model draws direct inspiration from the aviation and shipbuilding sectors, where the goal is to move from unique FOAK builds to a standardised Nth-of-a-Kind (NOAK) production line.
The shift is powered by factory fabrication, where components are built in controlled environments rather than on construction sites.
This allows for modularisation, where complex structures are broken into standardised modules fabricated in parallel. Through this process, manufacturers benefit from learning-by-doing, identifying and correcting factory inefficiencies to ensure that each subsequent unit offers greater predictability and reduced risk.
The rise of industrial heat and hydrogen
While electricity is the primary driver, SMRs are uniquely positioned for hard-to-abate industrial sectors. Because various reactor concepts offer different outlet temperatures, they can replace fossil fuels in processes that were previously unreachable by electrification.
The following table highlights the near-term markets where SMRs are currently being sited:
| Near-term market | Typical reactor concept | Primary application and temperature |
| Industrial Heat | Gas-cooled; molten salt | High-temp steam for chemical production, refineries and ammonia (up to 700°C+). |
| Hydrogen production | Gas-cooled; fast spectrum | High-intensity heat for steam methane reforming or electrolysis. |
| District heating | Water-cooled | Low-carbon heat for residential / commercial grids; soda ash or paper production. |
| Remote mining | Microreactors; heat-pipe | Replacing diesel generators in isolated hubs with mobile or off-grid solutions. |
Momentum seen in the regulatory 65%
The transition from concept to construction is most visible on the regulatory front. As of early 2025, there has been a staggering 65% increase in pre-licensing activities with nuclear regulators compared to the 2023 assessment.
Currently, over 33 SMR designs are engaged with safety authorities worldwide, moving through the rigorous FOAK certification process.
Key milestones that define this momentum include:
- Kairos Power receiving a construction license for the Hermes design in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, US.
- Natura Resources, in a strategic partnership with Abilene Christian University (ACU), securing a construction permit for the MSR-1 molten salt research reactor in Texas, US.
- Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is leading the commercial FOAK charge in Canada with the BWRX-300 at the Darlington site.
Innovation hits a roadblock
Despite the momentum, the fuel supply chain is a critical barrier. Over 60% of the designs assessed (47 out of 74) rely on fuel forms that are not currently available on a commercial scale.
The specific challenge is the requirement for High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU), enriched between 5% and 20%.
Of the 39 designs requiring HALEU, 30 plan to use enrichment levels between 10% and 20%. This represents a High-Assay tier for which commercial-scale fabrication facilities—specifically for TRISO particles and metallic alloys—do not yet exist.
Without coordinated international support to build this mid-stream infrastructure, many advanced FOAK designs may face significant delays regardless of their technical maturity.
Source: NEA (2025), The NEA Small Modular Reactor Dashboard: Third Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris
