France’s state-owned power company EDF has announced that its Nuward small modular reactor design will be used for a European early joint regulatory review in what will be a test-case for multi-country European regulatory cooperation.

The review will be led by the French nuclear safety authority ASN with the participation of Czech regulator SUJB and Finnish regulator Stuk.

EDF said it wants to foster European cooperation and support the acceleration of international SMR licensing, creating momentum towards the harmonisation of SMR regulations.

The review will be based on existing nuclear licensing regulations in each country. The three-way collaboration will help regulators in different countries increase their knowledge of each other’s regulatory practices and improve their ability to anticipate the challenges of international licensing for the Nuward SMR.