As with any large project, attention must be given to society values, such as an appetite for renewable energy, concerns for nuclear materials and waste management, proliferation concerns, and general safety issues. Public acceptance is influenced by perceived positive (or negative) impact of a new facility, industry, or system on the local community. This impact could be quantified in terms of the number of jobs created and sustained by the proposed project, or the annual gross domestic product increase attributed to the project. These and other community economic considerations have an important effect on public acceptance and support for a proposed project, related political decisions, zoning, and facility siting. SMRs offer the possibility to be located closer to population centers and the final customer due to the reduced exclusion zone that derives from the smaller plant footprint. The significantly enhanced safety and reduced source term for integral PWR designs relative to existing gigawatt-scale LWR plants are also expected to allow siting closer to the end user. By producing non-electricity products (heat, chemicals, etc.) near the point of use, the economical attractiveness of the planned facility is increased and the market size is enlarged (particularly as aging coal plants require replacement).

NHES present a unique acceptance challenge in regulatory space. Co-location of nuclear and chemical subsystems that are subject to different licensing and regulatory bodies is new territory for regulators. Siting and operation of a nuclear plant require adherence to a cadre of regulations that define the necessary plant exclusion zone, the minimum number of operators per reactor, etc. Chemical plants are similarly regulated with regard to exclusion zone, emissions, etc. If implemented in their current form, the independent nuclear and chemical plant regulations would prohibit siting the plants within a single energy park facility. Joint permitting is essential to a tightly coupled hybrid facility, but it could also be a significant factor in gaining public and political approval. These challenges may entail development of a new licensing process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the appropriate chemical industry regulatory bodies to enact appropriate risk assessments that have not previously been considered. An interim solution could be independent siting of each subsystem with transmission lines crossing the site boundaries. However, this configuration would not offer significant improvement over the current hybrid grid configuration, as it would not allow for tight coupling and integrated control of the various subsystems.