Safety of SMRs, advanced and innovative nuclear reactors and fuels

Expected Outcome: the project results are expected to contribute to some of the following expected outcomes: research into safety of innovative reactors, small modular reactors (SMRs) – both light water SMRs (LW-SMRs) and Gen-IV-based advanced modular reactors (AMRs); design or demonstration of SMRs and fuel cycles’ viability; and efficient integration within low-carbon and smart energy systems; research support towards a shared and consistent approach among regulators’ TSOs to safety requirements for different advanced energy systems and applications (e.g. industrial heat, district heat and the maritime sector), supported by regular exchanges and reviews and workshops with licensees, SMR developers, and research organisations, thereby further improving safety across the EU; emphasis on innovation in the safety aspects of LW-SMRs and AMRs; establishment of operating rules for specific services for innovative reactors, incorporating emerging instrumentation and digital technologies that offer potential improvements for in-service operation; research into fuel cycles (including their key features: inherently safe design, generation of less high-level waste and improved use of resources), potentially enabling interested Member States to contribute to the energy transition (according to and respecting the EU’s technology neutrality principle) and thus increase Member States’ and EU energy security. Scope: the Commission expects from this Topic a balanced portfolio of projects covering both LW-SMRs and AMRs with their fuel cycles. The focus on safety will also cover research and innovation needed to independently demonstrate the safety of innovative systems, critical structures for both LW-SMRs and AMRs with their fuel cycles. Developers’ goals are systems that offer increased safety, sustainability, economic competitiveness, and also enhance fuel efficiency, minimise waste generation, foresee non-electric applications and flexibility in terms of adaptation to the energy mix with intermittent/variable sources. These innovative reactor technologies aim at including safety-by-design features. Research should also be conducted on the safety of advanced coolant technologies, reactor hybridisation and fuel designs. Research proposals should do several of the following: keep the focus on safety-security-safeguards-by-design (3S by Design) facilitating regulators’ TSOs awareness of innovative reactor concepts that could be integrated into hybrid energy systems; investigate SMRs’ high degree of passive safety in respect to possible safety assessment harmonization of …

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