Table 4.7 provides an evaluation of the deployment timeframes for some of the SMRs addressed in this report.

The SMRs included in Table 4.7 are those:

• for which the construction is in progress (KLT-40S);

• which are in the process of licensing (HTR-PM, CAREM-25, SMART);

• for which licensing pre-applications have been made and the dates of a formal licensing application have been defined (NuScale, mPower, Westinghouse SMR, AHWR, 4S, New Hyperion Power Module[31]);

• for which previous design versions have been licensed, or the prototypes are (or were) operated, and which are strongly supported by national programmes with deployment timeframes clearly defined at a national level (ABV, VBER-300, SVBR-100).

Table 4.7 does not include SMRs:

• that are still at a conceptual design stage (IMR, PASCAR);

• for which the basic design stage is still not completed (CAREM-300, CCR);

• for which the detailed design has been completed more than a decade ago, but no construction project was initiated (NHR-200, VK-300);

• which are targeted for deployment in the middle of 2020s, at the earliest (GTHTR300, GT-MHR);

• which were targeted for near term deployment, but then suffered a major disruption of the original plans (PBMR [previous design)), see Section 4.2.4).

The SMR designs currently being developed, and that could become available before 2020 are presented in Figure 4.2.

Table 4.7. Design status and potential timeframes for deployment of advanced SMRs

* Late in 2010 the Westinghouse Electric Company stopped the development of the IRIS project and announced it would go with an alternative integral design PWR of a 200 MWe class. Very few technical details of this new SMR were available as of June 2011.

The data given in Table 4.7 indicate that:

• By the middle of the 2010s, several PWR SMRs could be constructed (KLT-40S, ABV, CAREM-25, SMART), as well as an indirect cycle HTGR for electricity production (HTR-PM).

deployment and operation of FOAK SMRs be successful, commercial deployments of many units of these reactors may follow, starting from the first half of 2020.

• The prospects for nearer term fast spectrum SMRs (SVBR-100, 4S, New Hyperion Power Module) are less certain because of many novel features incorporated in their designs. Even if deployed by 2020, they would be prototype or demonstration plants that would need to be operated for a number of years (especially in view of the targeted long refuelling intervals) before a decision on commercialisation could be taken. It is unlikely that these SMRs could be commercialised before 2025.

• FOAK HTGRs for high temperature non-electrical applications might be deployed around 2025. Their deployment is likely to be conditioned by the progress in hydrogen (or an alternative advanced energy carrier) economy and will also be conditioned by the operation experience of the HTR-PM.

• The countries in which FOAK SMRs could be deployed within the next 10-15 years are Argentina, China, India, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States.

Figure 4.2. SMR designs that could be commercially deployed before mid-2020s

mPower, Westinghouse SMR. NuScale, Hyperion

AHWR

SMR that could become available for

commercial deployment before 2020