Small modular reactor

A nuclear reactor of up to roughly 300 megawatts of electricity, designed to be largely factory-built and shipped in modules.

• Large reactors are one-off megaprojects; Georgia's two new Vogtle units finished about seven years late and at more than double the budget.
• SMRs aim to cut costs through serial production and learning, like aircraft rather than cathedrals, but savings need many identical units.
• Small cores have more surface per volume, so many designs shed leftover heat passively after shutdown, with no pumps or operator action.
• They give up economies of scale; NuScale's first US project was cancelled in 2023 as costs rose, and very few SMRs operate anywhere.