In a standing-room-only side event at the IAEA’s General Conference in Vienna, a series of speakers gave an update on progress. A second call for projects to be supported under the alliance has just closed, and the meeting heard that there are already around 10 “very concrete SMR projects, and we expect to add a few more now through a process of additional selection”.
Among the speakers at the event was Nuward CEO Julien Garrel, who explained how EDF Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary Nuward’s small modular reactor (SMR) was now entering the next stage of its development, following the completion of the design.
This would see the development of projects for “the first European series, of 10 Nuward SMRs with five European countries”.
He added: “The second major step is to commercialise it before 2029, able to start construction in 2030 and start the first production in 2035. We are totally convinced that we have a strong value proposition on the market.”
He said that the Nuward’s SMR would have multi-energy applications for European industrial clusters and district heating, and with load-following flexibility. He talked of the potential energy security and climate impact of having 30 or 40 Nuward SMRs at European industrial clusters. Other benefits, he said, included having existing manufacturing facilities and fuel supply.
He said the aim was for the Nuward SMR to be a collaborative effort, and said discussions had already taken place with people in countries including Italy, Poland, Belgium and Finland “in order to build a strong European alliance … we have the supply chains, we have the designs … we don’t want to have Nuward as a French technology, we really want it as a European SMR. We are ready, and proud to have a full European SMR”.
The meeting was told that there would be a 48-month construction timeline for the Nuward SMRs.
The EU’s European Industrial Alliance on SMRs aims to “accelerate the development and deployment of SMRs in Europe”, with the first SMRs to be operational in the EU in the early 2030s, and between 17-53 GW of SMR capacity by 2050.
Its aims are to provide “industrial competitiveness, decarbonisation, strategic independence and security of supply” and to deliver “homegrown, affordable, clean energy”.
The meeting also heard, on behalf of Urenco and Orano, that “Europe does not need to build a new fuel cycle for lightwater reactors, it needs to optimise, harmonise and strengthen the one it already possesses”, and for advanced reactors, it “must rapidly determine which fuel technologies it intends to support and invest in the industrial capabilities required to produce them”.
The Nuward project
The Nuward project was originally launched in September 2019 by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, EDF, Naval Group and TechnicAtome. The Nuward – consisting of a 340 MWe SMR plant with two pressurised water reactors (PWRs) of 170 MWe each – was jointly developed using France’s experience in PWRs. The technology is intended to replace old high CO2-emitting coal, oil and gas plants around the world and support other applications such as hydrogen production, urban and district heating or desalination.
However, in July 2024, EDF said that in response to feedback from potential European customers it planned to optimise the Nuward design, focusing on existing and proven technologies, in order to guarantee that project deadlines and budgets are met.
In January 2025, Nuward said: “The studies conducted in recent months have been decisive: Nuward has refined its SMR strategy to fully meet the expectations of the utilities and industry. The Nuward SMR will deliver 400 MW of power and offer an option for cogeneration, up to approximately 100 MWt. It will rely on well-known and perfectly mastered technological building blocks within the nuclear sector to offer a safe product adapted to market needs.”
