Simplified operation and maintenance requirements are targeted by the designers of many advanced SMRs [9.2 and 9.4]. Reduced requirements to operation and maintenance are generically translated into reduced staffing requirements, and such requirements may challenge the corresponding national regulatory norms, specifically, if the latter are defined on a capacity-independent basis. For example, in some national regulations the requirements to have security staffing are independent of plant capacity, which is likely to pose a challenge to small NPPs designed for distributed deployment to serve the needs of small local communities in isolated areas. The corresponding revision or amendment of the regulatory norms will be required in such cases, and the updates need to be initiated in due time not to slow down the overall licensing process.

The issue of reduced off-site emergency planning requirements is addressed in more detail in the following section.