Artist’s impression of a Nuward SMR plant

EDF’s Nuward subsidiary has relaunched development of its small modular reactor (SMR) after announcing plans in 2024 to optimise the reactor design. According to Nuward’s original SMR roadmap, detailed design and formal application for a new nuclear facility was scheduled to begin in 2026 with first concrete in France planned for 2030. Construction of that first unit was expected to take three years. However, in July 2024 EDF said that it planned to optimise the Nuward design focusing on existing and proven technologies to ensure project deadlines and budgets could be met. EDF then withdrew Nuward from Great British Nuclear’s SMR selection contest.

The Nuward project was a joint effort launched in September 2019 by France’s Atomic Energy Commission (CEA – Commissariat à l’énergie Atomique et aux énergies Alternatives), EDF, Naval Group and TechnicAtome. The Nuward design comprises a 340 MWe SMR plant with two 170 MWe pressurised water reactors (PWRs).

Nuward said the studies conducted in recent months have been decisive: Nuward has “refined its SMR strategy to fully meet the expectations of the utilities and industry”. The Nuward SMR will deliver 400 MW of power and offer an option for cogeneration, up to approximately 100 MWt. It will rely on well-known and perfectly mastered technological building blocks within the nuclear sector to offer a safe product adapted to market needs. “The added value of Nuward will be based on simplicity, modularity and prefabrication with the aim of optimising competitiveness and construction times”.

The aim is to finalise the conceptual design of the reactor by mid-2026 and market a product for the 2030s, with a First-Of-A-Kind (FOAK) built in France. To initiate this new phase, Julien Garrel succeeded Renaud Crassous as Executive President of Nuward on 1 January. Crassous said he would be taking up the role of Deputy Director of the Nuclear Production Division within EDF.