Bloc says new plants will help meet electricity demand
The European Industrial Alliance on Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) has identified nine SMR projects it will support as its first batch of project working groups (PWGs).
The alliance said the effort marks a significant first step toward Europe’s goal of deploying SMR technologies across the bloc by the early 2030s.
The alliance, a collaborative public-private platform launched by the European Commission in February 2024, said on 11 October it picked its first batch of PWGs from a pool of 22 applications submitted as part of a June 2024 call for projects.
The nine projects identified at this stage are: EU-SMR-LFR project (Ansaldo Nucleare, SCK-CEN, ENEA, Raten); CityHeat project (Calogena, Steady Energy); Project Quantum (Last Energy); European LFR AS Project (Newcleo); Nuward (EDF); European BWRX-300 SMR (OSGE); Rolls-Royce SMR (Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd); NuScale Voygr SMR (RoPower Nuclear S.A); and Thorizon One project (Thorizon).
The selections do not mean the projects gets direct funding from the alliance. However, there will be the opportunity for collaboration among stakeholders including SMR developers, regulators and supply chain companies.
Projects that were not selected in this round will have the opportunity to reapply in the second quarter of 2025 after refining their proposals, the alliance said.
Projects in the first batch include a range of reactor designs, from lead-cooled fast reactors and pressurised water reactors to molten salt reactors and micro-modular plants. They include plants for power generation, district heating, and industrial applications such as oil refining, desalination, and steel production.
In May the alliance held its inaugural meeting in Brussels with the commission saying a new generation of nuclear plants is expected to help the bloc respond to the upcoming high demand for clean electricity and high quantities of hydrogen.
The commission said key tasks for the alliance include identifying the most promising and cost-effective SMR technologies eligible for alliance support, strengthening the European supply chain, identifying investment barriers and analysing funding opportunities.
