2025 Theme to Watch: Small Modular Reactors (SMR)

Recently, as the need for energy security and eco-friendly power supply has grown, and power demand from data centers has risen with the development of AI and advanced technologies, small modular reactors (SMR, Small Modular Reactor) are drawing attention.
Combining safety and cost-effectiveness, SMRs are expected to play a key role in the future energy transition.
An SMR is a small reactor designed with an output of 300 megawatts (MW) or less, unlike conventional large reactors.
Thanks to its modular structure, it can be prefabricated in a factory and then assembled and installed on site, offering a short construction period and low initial costs.
SMRs are a next-generation technology drawing attention in the energy industry because they are more economical than traditional large reactors and offer many advantages in safety and flexibility.
Through miniaturization and modularization, SMRs are designed to suit a variety of environments, such as small and medium-sized power grids, isolated areas and military bases.
Because they are built in modular units, power generation capacity can be expanded gradually, allowing a flexible response to changes in energy demand.
In addition, by placing the main components inside a single vessel and simplifying the design, they fundamentally prevent the large pipe accidents that can occur in conventional reactors.
Thanks to this design, the radius of the emergency evacuation zone is significantly smaller than for conventional reactors, and safety has also greatly improved.
Economically, too, SMRs are more competitive than conventional large reactors thanks to lower initial investment and maintenance costs.
While the construction cost of a large reactor reaches about 10 trillion won, an SMR costs about 1 trillion won, and the construction period is shortened from the conventional 48-56 months to 24 months.
In addition, SMRs have a long refueling cycle of 20 years, which greatly reduces maintenance costs.
However, SMRs are still at an early stage, and there are challenges to overcome.
Notably, regulatory and certification procedures for verifying safety and efficiency are complex, and market formation and profitability remain uncertain at this early stage of technology development. Also
with renewable energy and energy storage technologies advancing rapidly, the economics of SMRs face competition.
Currently, SMR development and commercialization are actively under way in many countries.
In the United States, companies such as NuScale Power and TerraPower are considered frontrunners in SMR commercialization, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is investing billions of dollars in related projects.
Russia operates the world's first floating SMR power plant, and Korea is also aiming for commercialization in the 2030s through the development of a Korean SMR (SMART).
Countries such as China are likewise fostering SMRs as a next-generation energy technology through active investment and development.
SMRs are innovative reactors that combine safety, flexibility and cost-effectiveness, and they are becoming such an important part of the energy industry that they are forecast to account for about 24% of new nuclear capacity by 2050.
In particular, they are regarded as a key technology for achieving energy security and decarbonization goals, and are expected to play an important role in the global energy transition going forward.