To this point, none of the several LW-SMR concepts under development in the US has been licensed or constructed. ‘The mission of the SMR Licensing Technical Support program is to promote the accelerated deployment of SMRs by supporting certification and licensing requirements for US-based SMR projects through cooperative agreements with industry partners, and by supporting the resolution of generic SMR issues,’ [1]. The cooperative agreement is a cost-shared arrangement between DOE and the industry partner(s). The LTS is currently planned as a six — year program, providing a total of $452 M of government funding to be matched by the industry partners.

The DOE has made two different solicitations via funding opportunity announcements for SMR concepts. The m-Power America Partnership was selected for the first award with a goal to support commercial operation of an SMR by 2022. The emphasis of this first solicitation was to complete design certification, site characterization, licensing, first-of-a-kind engineering activities, and the associated NRC safety review processes to support the 2022 goal. The NuScale Power Partnership is the second award recipient. The objective of the second solicitation was to seek out innovative and effective solutions for enhanced safety, operations, and performance beyond designs currently certified by the NRC that should be expected to realize commercial operation in the 2025 time period.

While DOE-NE is not conducting specific R&D in support of these LW-SMR designs per se, it is recognized that there is a need and basis for addressing a number of generic issues for all potential SMR licensees, including for LW — SMRs and future A-SMRs. Some of these generic issues include evaluating the following:

• SMR source terms;

• staffing requirements for operations, maintenance, and security; and

• economic potential of SMRs via improved modeling.

The DOE-NE is also engaged with the nuclear industry’s Electric Power Institute (EPRI) in preparing a utility requirements document (URD) for SMRs aimed at developing a generic set of design requirements. The URD would assist the SMR industry in developing more focused designs for commercial deployment as well as an enhanced understanding of the licensing requirements early in the design process.