Ensuring Assessment of Safety Innovation for SMR (EASI-SMR) is a four-year project project that addresses safety issues associated with Light-Water Small Modular Reactors (LW-SMR) innovations. It endeavors to advance the technologies that will support these innovations for rapid deployment across Europe and beyond.

The project research activities support further design, construction, commissioning and operation of LW-SMR reactors in the safest way.

EASI-SMR will address the safety issues associated with major LW-SMR innovations, including:

• Passive safety systems
• Soluble boron-free cores
• Co-generation and hybridization
• Additive manufacturing to improve the compactness and modularization of Nuclear Steam Supply System
• Multi-unit operation

The work aims to provide insights for European LW-SMR industrial projects, particularly:

• NUWARD SMR (NUWARD, an EDF subsidiary), a French design for an electricity-generating reactor that can also operate in a cogeneration electricity / heat mode.
• LDR-50 (Steady Energy, spin-off company from VTT), a Finnish design of a district heating reactor of 50 MW

The main objectives of the project are to:

• • Ensure the highest level of safety of LW-SMRs based on passive safety systems
  • Assess the safety impact of LW-SMRs design specificities
  • Address regulatory and societal challenges towards the deployment of SMRs in Europe

• Increased knowledge of passive system physics. In particular, separate effect tests will be developed in order to improve the models of thermal hydraulic system codes
• Enhanced safety assessment methodologies for LW-SMRs used in the licensing process, particularly for the quantification of the reliability of passive safety systems
• Improved understanding of human & organization factors at stake in LW-SMRs operation
• Improved Technology Readiness Level and regulatory approval for nuclear components fabricated by additive manufacturing techniques.
• Support for the selection of the appropriate core design for water-cooled SMRs under development.
• Support a shared and coherent approach among regulators regarding safety requirements for LW-SMRs
• Better understanding and acceptance of LW-SMRs in the EU

38 partners: EDF, AIMEN, ANSALDO, BEL V, CEA, CIEMAT, CIRTEN, CLOR, ENEA, ENEN, ENERGORISK, FRAMATOME, FRAMATOME GmbH, GRS, HZDR, IRSN, JRC, JSI, KIT, LEI, LUT, USFD, NRG, RUB, SIET, SSTC NRS, SWERIM, TRACTEBEL, UJV, VTT, PSI, IFE, ARB, FZJ, ETHZ, KTH, NINE, NCBJ

01/09/2024 – 01/09/2028

24 M€ (15M€ in funding)

Technical Project Leader:

Dr Nicolas Sobecki, SMR project manager

EDF R&D, France

nicolas.sobecki@edf.fr

This project has received funding from the EURATOM research and Innovation programme 2021-2025 under Grant Agreement No 101059543.