Small Modular Reactor Market Size & Share 2026-2035

Small Modular Reactor Market Size

The global small modular reactor market was valued at USD 3.6 billion in 2025, driven by converging clean electricity requirements, advanced reactor design certifications, and sovereign energy policy frameworks across more than 30 countries.^{[1]International Energy Agency, iea.org} The market is forecast to reach USD 15.6 billion by 2035 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7% over the 2026-2035 period, according to the latest report published by Global Market Insights Inc.

The transition from design-phase activity to active construction marked by the commencement of the BWRX-300 build at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site in May 2025 establishes concrete cost and schedule benchmarks previously unavailable to investors, utilities, and off-take counterparties.^{[2]International Atomic Energy Agency, iaea.org} Finalization of the U.S. NRC’s Part 53 framework in 2026 and the European Commission’s SMR Strategy published in March 2026 signal a coordinated global shift toward dedicated licensing pathways for advanced reactor configurations.^{[3]U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, nrc.gov}

Small Modular Reactor Market Trends

Shift toward Decentralized Energy

The prevailing SMR value proposition is shifting from grid-scale utility replacement toward co-located, site-specific generation for customers that cannot tolerate supply uncertainty. As of May 2026, 29 SMR orders and commitments had been tracked across 9 countries, with technology companies representing the largest share of committed capacity among buyer categories.^{[11]World Nuclear News, world-nuclear-news.org} Amazon has made a direct equity investment in X-energy, while Microsoft has entered structured nuclear procurement discussions consistent with its 2040 carbon-negative commitments commercial arrangements requiring engineering delivery, regulatory licensing, and supply chain execution on fixed timelines.

In our H2 2025 survey of 285 corporate energy procurement leaders across North America and Europe, 58% reported having allocated or actively planning to allocate a portion of their long-term power procurement to firm low-carbon sources including advanced nuclear a 22-percentage-point increase from equivalent responses in 2023. The structural change is contractual: corporate off-takers now serve as anchor customers whose committed revenue enables SMR projects to access investment-grade project finance. This demand-side anchoring absent from earlier SMR commercialization attempts is the most consequential development in the market’s evolution from concept to investable asset class.

Growth in Low-Carbon Baseload Demand

Global electricity demand growth is outpacing the buildout of firm dispatchable capacity, creating a structural deficit that intermittent renewables and battery storage cannot close at the multi-gigawatt scale demanded by AI computing and advanced manufacturing. The energy intensity of AI model training and inference is estimated to increase by 10x between 2023 and 2030 for frontier workloads, driving hyperscaler procurement strategies that prioritize assured generation over cost minimization. TerraPower’s agreement with Meta for up to eight Natrium reactor plants by 2035 structured as a fleet off-take rather than a single-site commitment illustrates the scale at which this demand is being contracted.

The second-order effect is the emergence of “nuclear plus” configurations: SMR plants co-located with hydrogen electrolyzers, desalination units, and thermal energy storage systems that optimize revenue across multiple simultaneous output streams. This multi-product configuration is at the engineering feasibility stage for several leading developers and is expected to materially improve project economics for commercial-scale plants entering construction from 2027 onward. Revenue diversification not single-product power sale is increasingly expected to define the economic case for the next wave of SMR projects.

Rising Interest in Microreactors

Microreactors sub-10 MWe factory-built units represent the fastest-growing sub-segment by design volume within the advanced nuclear market. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Project Pele, a 1–5 MWe mobile microreactor program, completed its demonstration phase, establishing the technical and regulatory precedent for transportable nuclear power in non-utility operating environments. Kairos Power received the NRC’s first construction permit for a non-light-water reactor in the United States the Hermes test reactor at the Oak Ridge site enabling direct experimental validation of fluoride salt-cooled designs ahead of a commercial licence application.

The underlying economics are compelling in isolated markets. Diesel generation costs in Arctic mining operations and military forward bases routinely exceed USD 1/kWh. At those delivered energy cost levels, even FOAK microreactor capital costs estimated at USD 5,000–10,000/kW for sub-10 MWe units can yield competitive levelized costs of energy within a 15-year asset life. Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation’s 5 MWe Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) has advanced to pre-licensing engagement with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for remote mining site deployment, targeting exactly this cost-parity market.

Small Modular Reactor Market Analysis

By Reactor Type

Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)

The PWR segment commanded a 31% share of the SMR market in 2025 and is projected to grow at a 16.3% CAGR through 2035. PWRs account for more than 70% of operating nuclear capacity worldwide, enabling vendors to apply established fuel cycle logistics, safety case precedents, and multi-decade operational data to SMR-scale integral configurations. NuScale Power’s uprated 77-MWe US460 VOYGR module received NRC Standard Design Approval in May 2025, completing review in under two years and below projected cost thresholds the most recently approved integral PWR configuration in the U.S. regulatory pipeline. A 12-module VOYGR plant delivers up to 924 MWe, making it among the most scalable PWR-based SMR configurations currently licensed.

China’s ACP100 a 125 MWe integral PWR under construction at the Changjiang site in Hainan province successfully completed its non-nuclear turbine steam start-up test in December 2024, with commercial operations planned for the first half of 2026. The ACP100’s near-operational status makes it the first integral PWR-based SMR globally approaching grid-supply readiness. Its commissioning data will materially inform downstream deployment decisions across Southeast Asia and the Middle East by providing reference performance metrics not yet available from any operating Western SMR design.

Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)

The BWR segment held a 28% share in 2025 and is projected to expand at an 18.6% CAGR through 2035, driven almost entirely by the GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300. The BWRX-300’s competitive positioning rests on two structural advantages: its nuclear design basis derives from the NRC-certified ESBWR, enabling a streamlined regulatory safety case; and it operates on standard low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, eliminating the high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) dependency that constrains several competing advanced reactor designs. HALEU currently has no commercial-scale Western production capability, making LEU-fueled designs structurally de-risked relative to HALEU-dependent alternatives.

Poland’s Orlen Synthos Green Energy and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy signed the Poland Generic Design Agreement in February 2026, establishing a localized BWRX-300 reference design adapted to Polish regulatory standards the first Continental European country to advance BWRX-300 deployment toward formal construction permitting. Concurrently, Sweden’s Vattenfall shortlisted the BWRX-300 alongside the Rolls-Royce SMR as its two preferred designs for approximately 1,500 MW of new nuclear capacity at the Ringhals site, with final vendor selection pending state risk-sharing approval.

Fast Neutron Reactor

The fast neutron reactor segment held a 30% small modular reactor market share in 2025 and is projected to grow at a 9.7% CAGR through 2035 the lowest rate among major reactor type segments reflecting longer development cycles and more complex licensing requirements inherent to non-light-water designs. TerraPower’s Natrium reactor a sodium-cooled fast reactor integrated with a molten salt thermal energy storage system capable of dispatching up to 500 MWe during peak demand is progressing toward first commercial operation in 2030 at Kemmerer, Wyoming. The Natrium’s dispatchability profile is unique among current SMR designs, enabling it to absorb excess renewable energy and release it as electricity on demand.

Rosatom’s BREST-OD-300 lead-cooled fast reactor, under construction at the Seversk site in Russia, is targeted for operation by 2028–2029 and represents the first lead-cooled fast reactor globally to reach construction status. At a strategic level, fast neutron reactors offer a long-cycle differentiation: their capacity to operate in a closed fuel cycle breeding fissile material from fertile U-238 or Th-232 addresses uranium resource constraints that will become material as global nuclear capacity expands toward 600 GWe in the 2040s and beyond.

High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR)

The HTGR segment held a 9.6% of small modular reactor market share in 2025 and is forecast to grow at a 29% CAGR through 2035 the highest rate among established reactor type segments reflecting rising industrial demand for process heat temperatures that light-water reactor designs cannot achieve. China’s HTR-PM at the Shidaowan site in Shandong province the world’s first commercial HTGR entered commercial operation in December 2023, with its two 250 MWth pebble-bed modules driving a single 210 MWe steam turbine. Operating at a helium outlet temperature of 750°C, the plant was connected to the district heating grid in March 2024, establishing the first commercial case for an HTGR supplying simultaneous electricity and district heat from a modular configuration.^{[12]Nuclear Energy Institute, nei.org}

CNNC broke ground in January 2026 on the Xuwei Nuclear Heating and Power Plant in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province the world’s first project integrating a 660 MWe HTGR with two 1,208 MWe Hualong One PWRs in a single industrial complex, designed for high-temperature industrial steam supply. In the United States, X-energy’s Xe-100 pebble-bed HTGR rated at 80 MWe per module with helium coolant temperatures reaching approximately 750°C is under NRC construction permit review for the Seadrift, Texas site, targeting direct steam and power supply for a large-scale petrochemical manufacturing facility.

Molten Salt Reactor / Fluoride Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (FHR)

The molten salt/FHR segment held a 1% of small modular reactor market share in 2025 and is forecast to grow at a 30.3% CAGR through 2035 the second-highest rate in the reactor type segmentation driven by the design’s atmospheric-pressure operation and inherent safety characteristics. Kairos Power’s commercial KP-FHR design uses pebble-bed TRISO fuel with a fluoride salt coolant at approximately 600°C. Atmospheric-pressure operation eliminates the high-pressure failure modes of pressurized water reactors, while the near-zero void coefficient prevents the reactivity feedback mechanisms associated with sodium-cooled fast reactors a safety architecture that reduces emergency planning zone requirements and enables siting in industrial proximity.

In our Q4 2025 expert panel discussions with 18 nuclear engineering leads and utility planners across North America, participants consistently identified fluoride salt-cooled and molten salt designs as the most promising long-term architecture for combined power and industrial process heat, citing coolant thermodynamic stability and passive decay heat removal as key advantages over both sodium-cooled and water-cooled alternatives. Terrestrial Energy’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) has completed Phase 1 of the CNSC vendor design review, while Seaborg Technologies is developing a containerized barge-mounted CMSR (Compact Molten Salt Reactor) at 100 MWe for coastal and island deployment contexts.

Others

The Others segment comprising gas-cooled microreactors, supercritical water-cooled reactors, and novel proprietary configurations held a 0.4% share in 2025 but is forecast to grow at the fastest rate across reactor type categories at 36.3% CAGR through 2035. Oklo Inc.’s Aurora fission battery, a sodium-cooled microreactor, resubmitted a revised combined licence application to the NRC following the 2022 rejection, advancing toward renewed regulatory review targeting defense, remote industrial, and data center co-location deployments. General Atomics’ EM² gas-cooled fast reactor is in pre-licensing NRC engagement, while the company concurrently operates the only domestic U.S. TRISO fuel fabrication capability a supply chain asset with increasing strategic value as HTGR and FHR designs scale toward construction.

By Application

Power generation accounted for 80% of the small modular reactor market in 2025 and is projected to grow at a 16.7% CAGR through 2035, reflecting the primary design orientation of most near-commercial SMR configurations toward dispatchable electricity supply. U.S. SMR companies raised approximately USD 1.5 billion in disclosed private equity funding during 2025 and early 2026 compared with roughly USD 295 million raised by European companies over the same period with the majority directed toward power generation-oriented projects seeking utility and technology-sector off-take agreements. Duke Energy, Ontario Power Generation, and TVA are co-investing in the BWRX-300 standard design development, a cost-sharing consortium that distributes reference engineering and regulatory costs across multiple future deployment sites.

The technology sector’s entry into nuclear power procurement represents the single most consequential near-term demand development for the power generation segment. As of May 2026, corporate buyers account for the largest share of total tracked SMR capacity commitments globally, with tech companies specifying 24/7 carbon-free energy at gigawatt scale a specification structurally better matched to SMR project finance requirements than the shorter-duration utility off-take contracts that historically characterized large nuclear procurement.

Industrial & Process Heat

The industrial and process heat segment held an 8% of small modular reactor market share in 2025 and is projected to expand at a 23.1% CAGR the second-highest among application segments driven by hard-to-abate industries facing both regulatory carbon pricing pressure and operational cost exposure from natural gas price volatility. A joint technical study by NuScale Power and the U.S. DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, presented at the March 2025 World Petrochemical Conference, validated the NuScale 77-MWe Power Module’s capacity to deliver 1.3 million kg/h of process steam at 400°C and 4.1 MPa while simultaneously exporting 73 MWe to the grid.

The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, entering full effect through 2026–2027, is converting industrial decarbonization from a cost center into a competitive requirement for EU-market exporters. For energy-intensive chemical producers and steel manufacturers with significant European exposure, the combined cost of natural gas plus CBAM compliance is converging with the levelized cost of SMR-supplied process heat a cost-parity dynamic that is expected to sustain the segment’s above-market CAGR through 2035.

Hydrogen Production

The hydrogen production segment held a 5% share in 2025 and is forecast to grow at a 17.7% CAGR through 2035, driven by the economics of low-carbon “pink hydrogen” in carbon-priced markets.  The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency identified hydrogen production as one of three priority non-electric applications for advanced SMR deployment, specifically noting that HTGR outlet temperatures above 700°C enable thermochemical sulfur-iodine cycle hydrogen production at efficiencies unavailable from light-water reactor thermal output.

The commercial pathway to competitive pink hydrogen requires achieving SMR capital costs below approximately USD 3,000/kW, at which point nuclear-derived hydrogen can be produced at a projected USD 2-2.5/kg and compete with natural gas-based hydrogen in markets where carbon pricing exceeds USD 50/t CO₂. NOAK cost projections for leading SMR designs suggest this threshold is achievable within the 5th–10th unit of fleet deployment, making hydrogen production a viable commercial application for plants ordered in the 2027–2030 window.

Desalination & Water Treatment

The desalination and water treatment segment held a 4% of small modular reactor market share in 2025 and is projected to grow at a 17.7% CAGR through 2035, with the MEA region accounting for a disproportionate share of growth given acute freshwater scarcity combined with high conventional generation costs. South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission approved the SMART100 design a 100 MWe integral PWR engineered for combined electricity generation and seawater desalination following a joint application by KAERI, KHNP, and Saudi Arabia’s KA-CARE. Pre-construction engineering for a SMART100 deployment in Saudi Arabia has been completed under a bilateral South Korea–Saudi Arabia cooperation framework.

Russia’s floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov, equipped with two 35 MWe KLT-40S integral pressurized water reactors, has operated in Pevek, Russia’s Far East, since May 2020, providing both electricity and district heat to a remote Arctic city. The Akademik Lomonosov demonstrates the operational precedent for marine-deployed SMRs serving remote coastal communities a deployment model directly applicable to island nations and coastal industrial zones where shore-based nuclear site preparation is impractical.

Research / Demonstration

The research and demonstration segment held a 3% of small modular reactor market share in 2025 and is forecast to grow at a 24.5% CAGR the highest among application categories reflecting the accelerating pace of government-funded demonstration projects designed to establish licensing precedents and real-cost benchmarks ahead of commercial fleet procurement. The IAEA’s Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI) has established working groups across 15 member states to develop harmonized design standards for SMRs, directly reducing the regulatory re-engineering burden when a design certified in one jurisdiction seeks approval in another.

Holtec International’s SMR-300 a 300 MWe integral PWR entered UK Generic Design Assessment Step 2 in August 2024, broadening the active Western SMR assessment pipeline beyond the BWRX-300 and Rolls-Royce programs. Westinghouse Electric Company’s AP300, a 300 MWe PWR derivative of the operating AP1000, was also accepted for UK Generic Design Assessment review, holding letters of intent from utilities in Poland, Czech Republic, and Ukraine further evidence that the European procurement pipeline is expanding across multiple competing designs simultaneously.

By Region

North America Small Modular Reactor Market

North America held a 47% share of the SMR market in 2025, advancing at a 15.1% CAGR through 2035, underpinned by the deepest regulatory infrastructure for nuclear licensing, active sovereign funding programs, and a well-developed corporate off-take ecosystem. In Canada, OPG’s BWRX-300 at the Darlington New Nuclear Project entered physical construction as of May 2025 the first commercial grid-scale SMR construction in North America following the CNSC’s construction licence issued in April 2025. In the United States, Tennessee Valley Authority filed the first construction permit application submitted by a U.S. utility to the NRC for a BWRX-300 at its Clinch River Nuclear Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in May 2025, with NRC review expected to extend into 2027.

In our Q1 2026 research covering 62 utility planners and energy procurement professionals across the United States and Canada, 71% identified SMRs as a planned component of their 2030–2040 capacity portfolio a 32-percentage-point increase from the 39% recorded in an equivalent 2023 survey. Duke Energy, Ontario Power Generation, and TVA are jointly investing in BWRX-300 standard design development, sharing engineering and regulatory cost burdens across multiple anticipated deployment sites. This cost-consortium model directly accelerates the NOAK learning curve and compresses the first-unit capital premium for each participating utility.

Europe Small Modular Reactor Market

Europe held a 29% share of the market in 2025 and is projected to grow at a 17.3% CAGR through 2035, with near-term momentum anchored in the UK and expanding across Poland, Sweden, Romania, and France. The UK government’s SMR programme anchored by Great British Energy – Nuclear’s selection of Rolls-Royce SMR in June 2025 was reinforced when Rolls-Royce SMR secured a multibillion-pound export contract from Sweden’s Videberg Kraft, marking the first multi-country contractual commitment for a European SMR design.

The March 2026 EU SMR Strategy targets coordination across more than 10 member states through the European Industrial Alliance on SMRs, aiming for first commercial European deployments by the early 2030s. Romania is advancing engagement with NuScale Power for a VOYGR deployment, while France’s EDF is participating in SMR feasibility studies as part of its reindustrialization and energy security strategy.

Asia Pacific Small Modular Reactor Market

Asia Pacific held a 19% share of the market in 2025 and is projected to grow at a 20.6% CAGR the fastest rate among the three established large regional markets. China dominates the Asia Pacific SMR landscape through operational scale unavailable elsewhere: the State Council approved 11 new nuclear reactor projects in August 2024 the most concentrated single-year capacity approval in the country’s history while the HTR-PM at Shidaowan has been in commercial operation since December 2023 and the ACP100 integral PWR at Changjiang is approaching commercial readiness in 2026, giving China simultaneously the world’s only operating commercial HTGR and the first integral PWR-based SMR in commercial commissioning.

South Korea’s government approved a revised Nuclear Safety Act in 2026 to shorten SMR construction and commercialization timelines through a “preliminary review system,” with SK Innovation targeting deployment of a fourth-generation SMR by 2035. India’s Department of Atomic Energy is advancing 220 MWe PHWR-based small reactor designs as part of a national nuclear expansion plan targeting 22.5 GWe of nuclear capacity by 2031. Japan’s revised energy strategy explicitly integrates advanced reactor deployment as a pillar of its decarbonization and energy security framework, completing the broad regional picture of governments across Asia Pacific aligning nuclear expansion policy with long-term emissions reduction targets.

Middle East & Africa Small Modular Reactor Market

The MEA region held a 5% share of the market in 2025 but is the fastest growing globally at a projected 41.1% CAGR through 2035, driven by sovereign nuclear programs with direct government capital backing in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC) and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy signed an MoU in May 2025 at the World Utilities Congress in Abu Dhabi to jointly evaluate BWRX-300 deployment under ENEC’s ADVANCE programme a structured technology evaluation framework created to accelerate potential deployment of next-generation nuclear technologies alongside the UAE’s existing four-reactor Barakah fleet.

Saudi Arabia’s National Atomic Energy Program (SNAEP) is structured around three strategic pillars: large nuclear power reactors, small modular reactors, and domestic uranium exploration and fuel cycle development. A civil nuclear cooperation framework between the United States and Saudi Arabia was completed in late 2025, opening formal pathways for U.S. reactor technology export to the Kingdom. KA-CARE has assessed SMRs as the preferred next step in nuclear technology for their flexible, low-emission, and multi-purpose potential with the SMART100 dual-purpose reactor and the BWRX-300 both under active evaluation for coastal and inland industrial sites.

Latin America Small Modular Reactor Market

Latin America held a 4% share of the market in 2025, advancing at a 13.6% CAGR through 2035, with Argentina and Brazil representing the region’s most established nuclear infrastructure. Argentina’s CAREM-25 a 32 MWe integral PWR under construction at the Atucha site had its construction suspended in late 2024 to allow for a focused design revision before resuming, reflecting the broader FOAK engineering challenges that characterize first-of-a-kind integral reactor projects globally. Brazil’s national nuclear expansion program identifies SMR-scale reactors as a long-term complement to its hydroelectric-dominated grid, particularly for industrial-load power supply in regions underserved by the existing transmission network.

Small Modular Reactor Market Share

The SMR industry in 2025 is characterized by a top-heavy competitive structure: the five leading companies GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, CNNC, TerraPower, Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd, and Rosatom collectively held approximately 64% of global market share, while more than 15 additional vendors compete for the remaining 36%. This concentration reflects the prohibitive cost and duration of achieving front-of-pipeline positioning in active procurement processes, where design certification and construction licensing milestones function as the effective market entry barriers.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy leads the market with a 19.5% share in 2025. The company’s competitive advantage resides in its simultaneous multi-country licensing strategy: active construction in Canada, a construction permit application under NRC review at TVA’s Clinch River site, completion of UK GDA Step 2 in December 2025, and a Poland Generic Design Agreement signed in February 2026. No other Western SMR developer has matched this parallel licensing breadth across four major regulatory jurisdictions. The BWRX-300’s ESBWR design heritage also enables the company to leverage a substantially completed nuclear safety analysis, compressing the incremental regulatory burden for each additional deployment country.

China’s domestic market volume with the State Council approving 11 new reactors in a single August 2024 decision provides manufacturing throughput and project execution experience unavailable to any Western competitor at equivalent cost, reinforcing CNNC’s operational lead as measured by designs closest to or already at commercial grid supply.

TerraPower occupies a differentiated competitive position as the leading advanced sodium-cooled fast reactor developer in the Western market. The Natrium reactor’s integrated molten salt thermal storage enabling 500 MWe dispatch capability from a 345 MWe baseload reactor represents a commercially credible dispatchability feature absent from all competing designs. Conversations with supply chain leads at Tier-1 nuclear EPC contractors in Q1 2026 revealed that 65% were actively building or qualifying Natrium-compatible sodium system components, signaling supply chain maturation ahead of the Kemmerer construction ramp.

Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd is the leading European competitor, combining a UK government-backed programme with the continent’s first multi-country export contract pipeline. Its 470 MWe factory-built design targets the UK, European, and Commonwealth export markets. Rosatom maintains a global presence through its RITM-200M floating reactor program and sovereign export agreements across Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, though Western sanctions imposed following the 2022 conflict in Ukraine have materially constrained its addressable market outside non-Western allied nations. Competitive differentiation across the full market increasingly converges on two factors: speed of first-project-in-ground and fuel supply chain independence, separating LEU-compatible designs from HALEU-dependent alternatives.

Small Modular Reactor Market Companies

Major players operating in the small modular reactor industry are: ARC Clean Technology, CNNC (China National Nuclear Corp), EDF, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, General Atomics, Holtec International, Huaneng Group, Kairos Power, Moltex Energy, NuScale Power, Oklo Inc., Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd, Rosatom (NIKIET), Seaborg Technologies, TerraPower, Terrestrial Energy, ThorCon Power, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, Westinghouse Electric Company, X-energy.

ARC Clean Technology: ARC Clean Technology is advancing the ARC-100, a 100 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor in pre-licensing engagement with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The company targets refinery and heavy industrial heat supply in addition to grid-scale power, with engineering partnerships active in Canada and the UK.

CNNC (China National Nuclear Corp): CNNC is the world’s most operationally advanced SMR developer, with the HTR-PM in commercial operation since December 2023 and the ACP100 integral PWR completing commissioning testing at the Changjiang site ahead of 2026 grid connection. CNNC’s concurrent pursuit of HTGR, integral PWR, and large-reactor technologies constitutes the broadest operational reactor portfolio of any single developer globally.

EDF: EDF is engaged in SMR feasibility and pre-development studies across France and is an active participant in the European Industrial Alliance on SMRs established under the EU’s March 2026 SMR Strategy. EDF’s operational experience managing the world’s largest commercial nuclear fleet provides directly applicable knowledge for multi-unit SMR site management.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy): GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is the global market leader with a 19.5% share in 2025, with the BWRX-300 under active construction at OPG’s Darlington site and simultaneously under NRC review for TVA’s Clinch River deployment. The company’s multi-country licensing framework across Canada, the US, UK, and Poland underpins its competitive positioning as the most commercially advanced Western SMR developer.

General Atomics: General Atomics is developing the EM², a gas-cooled fast reactor in pre-licensing NRC engagement, while also operating the only domestic U.S. TRISO fuel fabrication facility a supply chain asset of increasing strategic value as HTGR and FHR designs advance toward construction.

Holtec International: Holtec International is advancing the SMR-300, an integral PWR that entered UK Generic Design Assessment Step 2 in August 2024, alongside active engagement with the NRC for U.S. construction permitting. Holtec has received DOE investment and is in discussions with New England utilities for potential deployment.

Huaneng Group: Huaneng Group operates China’s HTR-PM at Shidaowan, Shandong province, and is advancing Phase II expansion of the site with additional pebble-bed modules building toward the ultimate 10-unit, 2,100 MWe HTR-PM600 configuration planned for the site.

Kairos Power: Kairos Power is developing the commercial KP-FHR fluoride salt-cooled reactor and holds a power purchase agreement with Google as anchor off-taker for commercial deployment, positioning it as one of the first SMR developers with a named technology-sector customer commitment tied to a specific reactor design.

Moltex Energy: Moltex Energy is advancing the Stable Salt Reactor – Wasteburner (SSR-W) in Canada, a molten salt design targeting co-location with existing used nuclear fuel storage sites. The company has received CNSC vendor design review engagement and UK government feasibility funding.

NuScale Power: NuScale Power is the first developer to achieve both NRC design certification (50 MWe module, January 2023) and Standard Design Approval (77-MWe US460, May 2025). Following the 2023 Carbon Free Power Project cancellation, NuScale has repositioned toward international markets through its commercialization partner ENTRA1, targeting Gulf and Southeast Asian deployments with the NRC-approved design.

Oklo Inc.: Oklo Inc. is advancing the Aurora fission battery, a 1.5 MWe sodium-cooled microreactor, with a revised combined licence application under NRC review following the 2022 rejection. Oklo is publicly listed on the NYSE and holds off-take interest from defense contractors and remote industrial site operators.

Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd: Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd is the leading European SMR developer, selected by Great British Energy – Nuclear in June 2025 and by Sweden’s Videberg Kraft in 2026 for a multibillion-pound export contract the first multi-country contractual commitment for any European SMR design.

Rosatom: Rosatom operates the world’s first commercially active floating nuclear power plant (Akademik Lomonosov, since May 2020) and is advancing the RITM-200M for additional floating platforms targeting Arctic and remote coastal markets. Export activities continue across non-Western markets including Turkey, Bangladesh, Egypt, and multiple African nations.

Seaborg Technologies: Seaborg Technologies is developing the CMSR (Compact Molten Salt Reactor), a 100 MWe containerized barge-mounted design, with pre-licensing discussions in Denmark and Gulf region partner country engagement. The barge deployment model targets island nations and coastal industrial zones where conventional nuclear site preparation is impractical.

TerraPower: TerraPower is the most advanced sodium-cooled fast reactor developer in the Western market, with its Natrium reactor under construction at Kemmerer, Wyoming, targeting first commercial operation by 2030 under DOE ARDP co-funding. An agreement with Meta for up to eight Natrium plants by 2035 establishes the first fleet-scale commercial pipeline for a non-light-water SMR anywhere in the world.

Terrestrial Energy: Terrestrial Energy is advancing the IMSR (Integral Molten Salt Reactor) at 195 MWe and 600°C operating temperature through CNSC Phase 2 vendor design review, targeting industrial process heat applications in the chemical, mining, and refining sectors.

ThorCon Power: ThorCon Power is developing the TMSR-500, a thorium-uranium molten salt reactor, with initial deployment targeted in Indonesia through an active government cooperation framework representing one of the first Southeast Asian nations to advance from SMR interest to structured vendor engagement.

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC): Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation is advancing the Micro Modular Reactor (MMR), a 5 MWe high-temperature gas-cooled microreactor, in CNSC pre-licensing engagement for remote mining site deployment in Canada. USNC targets the remote community and mining power market where diesel displacement economics are most favorable.

Westinghouse Electric Company: Westinghouse Electric Company is advancing the AP300, a 300 MWe PWR derivative of the operating AP1000, accepted for UK Generic Design Assessment review. Westinghouse holds letters of intent from utilities in Poland, Czech Republic, and Ukraine, leveraging established European AP1000 fleet relationships to build its SMR deployment pipeline.

X-energy: X-energy is developing the Xe-100 pebble-bed HTGR, with a construction licence application filed to the NRC for Dow’s Seadrift, Texas site targeting the first at-scale industrial cogeneration deployment of an advanced SMR in the United States. Amazon has made a direct equity investment in X-energy and is a committed power off-taker for future electricity generation deployments.

Small Modular Reactor Industry News:

• Jun 2026: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its first commercial SMR construction permit in decades to TerraPower for the Natrium reactor at the Kemmerer, Wyoming site, authorizing physical reactor construction ahead of a targeted 2031 commercial operation date.
• May 2026: TerraPower signed fleet commercialization agreements with HD Hyundai and Hyundai Engineering & Construction (HDEC) to support rapid deployment of Natrium reactor plants, advancing the first fleet commercialization pathway for a sodium-cooled fast reactor in the Western market.
• Apr 2026: The UAE Ministry of Investment and China’s Jereh Group formalized a clean energy and industrial development partnership with planned activities explicitly including small modular reactor technology deployment across the UAE market.
• Feb 2026: Rolls-Royce SMR was selected by Sweden’s Videberg Kraft for a multibillion-pound SMR project with UK government backing, marking the company’s first confirmed export contract and the first multi-country contractual commitment for any European SMR developer.
• Jun 2025: Great British Energy – Nuclear selected Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred technology partner for the UK government’s domestic SMR programme, establishing the foundation for a government-backed deployment and export strategy.
• Dec 2024: Meta issued a Request for Proposal for up to 4 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity for early-2030s delivery, representing the largest single corporate nuclear procurement inquiry ever initiated and signaling the transition of technology-sector SMR demand from strategic interest to formal commercial procurement.
• Aug 2024: China’s State Council approved 11 new nuclear reactor projects in a single decision, including multiple SMR and HTGR designs the most concentrated single-year nuclear capacity approval in China’s history and a signal of intent to sustain the world’s highest nuclear construction throughput through the 2030s.

Concentration Score

The small modular reactor market scores 7 out of 10 on the market concentration scale, reflecting the top-five players’ combined 64% share a high-concentration structure driven by prohibitive FOAK capital requirements, multi-year regulatory licensing milestones, and the first-mover advantage accruing to developers that have already reached construction-stage execution in at least one jurisdiction.

The small modular reactor market research report includes an in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue and volume in “USD Billion & MW” from 2022 to 2035, for the following segments:

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Market, By Reactor type

• PWR
• BWR
• Fast neutron
• HTGR
• Molten salt / FHR
• Others

Market, By Application

• Power generation
• Industrial & process heat
• Hydrogen production
• Desalination & water treatment
• Research / demonstration

Market, By Connectivity

• Grid-connected
• Off-grid / remote

Market, By Location

• Land-based
• Marine-based / floating

Market, By Capacity

• Below 50 MW
• 50-100 MW
• 101-300 MW
• Above 300 MW

Market, By End Use

• Utilities
• Government / state enterprises
• Industrial operators
• Data centers
• Others

The above information has been provided for the following regions and countries:

• North America
  • U.S.
  • Canada
• Europe
  • UK
  • Poland
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • France
• Asia Pacific
  • China
  • South Korea
  • Japan
  • India
• Middle East & Africa
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UAE
  • South Africa
• Latin America
  • Argentina
  • Brazil