France’s state-owned EDF group remains fully committed to developing a small modular reactor (SMR) plant to meet the growing needs of electric utilities and energy-intensive industries for carbon-free electricity, heat, and hydrogen generation, a company executive said.

Antoine Guelfi, EDF’s director for export services within the international new nuclear development department, told the 2nd Nuclear Congress in Warsaw on 11 September that EDF has not abandoned its Nuward SMR project but the design of the future SMR plant will be based on “proven and existing” Generation III+ technology.

In June, EDF decided to change its SMR strategy by shifting away from a design initially proposed in 2019 towards the development of a design based on proven technology.