The mature production volumes for small reactor plants predict tens of units being produced per year. With a standardised product approach there is a business rationale to invest in tooling and techniques that bring about both unit cost reduction and also lead time improvement. For example with ten units in manufacture each year using conventionally deployed nuclear sector manufacturing techniques, the value of work in progress would be significant, requiring capability to be duplicated to deliver the required volume. As a simplistic example, in a facility that produced ten components per year, any activity that takes more than 36 days to complete would require investment in a parallel capacity to achieve the volume. A specific example could be the weld cladding and staged inspection of a vessel.

The deployment of any new manufacturing technique, even one that has been validated in other comparable industrial sectors, will still need to satisfy the regulatory agencies prior to any plant incorporation. This point on securing regulatory acceptance has specific importance for a small reactor.