Small modular reactor developers reached a series of licensing and commercial milestones, signaling that the technology is moving from design review toward construction. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to issue decisions on the first two commercial SMR construction permits during 2026, a step the industry has long awaited.
Several companies are advancing in parallel. NuScale Power, the only SMR developer with full NRC design certification, secured a standard design approval for its uprated 77-megawatt module, and its commercialization partner reached a nonbinding agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of NuScale capacity across the utility seven-state service region. TerraPower broke ground on its Natrium plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming, the first US advanced reactor project to begin site work, while its construction permit advanced through review.
Kairos Power holds the first NRC construction permit issued for an advanced reactor and signed the first corporate SMR power purchase agreement with Google, under which the Hermes 2 project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee is set to supply 50 megawatts to the TVA system by 2030. Oklo, which broke ground on its Aurora design at Idaho National Laboratory, has a deal with Meta for a 1.2 gigawatt power campus in Ohio.
The pattern across the announcements is consistent. Technology companies seeking firm power for data centers are signing long-term deals that give developers the demand certainty needed to finance construction, accelerating a buildout that depends on NRC licensing keeping pace.
Source: SMR Intel - https://smrintel.com/smr-nrc-approval-tracker/