Together they have been referred to by the IAEA as small and medium reactors (SMRs). The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) defines 'small' as under 300 MWe, and up to about 700 MWe as 'medium' – including many operational units from the 20th century. At the same time there have been many hundreds of smaller power reactors built for naval use (up to 190 MW thermal) and as neutron sources a, yielding enormous expertise in the engineering of small power units and accumulating over 12,000 reactor years of experience. The technologies involved are numerous and very diverse.Īs nuclear power generation has become established since the 1950s, the size of reactor units has grown from 60 MWe to more than 1600 MWe, with corresponding economies of scale in operation.This interest in small and medium nuclear power reactors is driven both by a desire to reduce the impact of capital costs and to provide power away from large grid systems.There is strong interest in small and simpler units for generating electricity from nuclear power, and for process heat.
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