LES ACTIVITÉS NUCLÉAIRES : RAYONNEMENTS IONISANTS ET RISQUES POUR LA SANTÉ ET L’ENVIRONNEMENT Several Small Modular Reactor (SMR) projects are currently being developed around the world. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) criteria, these are reactors with a capacity of less than 300 Megawatts electric (MWe) or 1,000 Megawatts thermal (MWth). The economic viability of these small reactors also depends on mass production based on a modular design. They use a variety of technologies: that of the Pressurised Water Reactors (PWRs) or advanced technologies (high-temperature, molten salt, fast neutron, etc. reactors). The characteristics of SMRs, in particular their low power and compactness, contribute to their safety. The French Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ASNR) considers that the designers should take advantage of these characteristics to propose reactors meeting more ambitious safety objectives than the existing high-power reactors. ASNR is also participating in international SMR working groups. Within this framework, it is holding discussions with its international counterparts in order to promote the definition of ambitious international baseline requirements, share its practices and benefit from operating experience feedback from its counterparts. Following an initial phase in which ASNR monitored the development of projects in preparation for future guidelines, 2025 was the year they came of age. All the projects have made progress in the development of their reactor, although in some cases significant changes have been made to the design, leading to a revision of the timetable for submitting applications to ASNR, or to the postponement of some of the assessments already under way. At the end of 2025, ASNR will be asked for a position statement on safety options for two projects and to examine a new creation authorisation application for an experimental reactor. 1 – From power reactors to small modular reactors The industrial nuclear reactors operated in France have until now only focused on the large-scale production of electricity. The French Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) fleet was gradually created with a regular trend being to increase the power of these reactors, from 900 MWe for the first reactors, to 1,600 MWe for the Flamanville EPR reactor. By more specifically targeting the market to supply energy directly to industrial customers, the new reactor designers responding to the Government’s call for project proposals are moving away from the traditional model, by developing reactors 10 to 400 times less powerful than the Flamanville EPR reactor, hence the term “small” reactors. This significant power reduction also implies an adaptation of the development business model for these small reactors, on the one hand by seeking to reduce construction times and, on the other, by relying on standardisation and mass production. The term “modular” refers to this new industrial model of mass production with much of it prefabricated in the factory. 312 ASNR Report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2025
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