For developing countries, as with high-income countries, financing is central. Here, the trade-offs are acute. Countries that rely on external aid or multilateral aid to help in financing major infrastructure will face those institutions’ policy preferences as to the types of energy and institutional programs they will support (World Bank, 2010). This could be an obstacle to SMR programs in the developing world. For example, in 2012, Kenya’s nascent nuclear program, one of the key developmental priorities in its country’s Vision 2030 plan, was criticized by the head of UNEP (which institutionally favours renewable energy), who urged exploration of other options first (Orengo, 2012; The Standard, 2012).

As a parallel example of the impact of aid issues, this time for a thermal plant, the Medupi coal-fired plant funded by the World Bank in South Africa has come under scrutiny — and resulted in additional costs — because of its environmental impacts on water usage and sulfur dioxide emissions. Alternatively, a revision of multilateral lending criteria for energy projects could take greater account of externalities (World Bank, 2010). This could facilitate SMR fleet deployment in developing countries.