The US small modular reactor field is moving from design review toward construction, with TerraPower among the companies leading the way. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission advanced TerraPower's Natrium project after completing its environmental review and issuing a final safety evaluation, clearing a path for the reactor. The company has begun non-nuclear construction at a retiring coal plant site in Kemmerer, Wyoming, where it plans to install an advanced reactor by 2030.
The broader pipeline is filling in behind it. NuScale Power remains the only SMR with full NRC design approval, holding a standard design approval for its 77 megawatt-electric module, and a real queue of projects sits behind that milestone. The Tennessee Valley Authority and ENTRA1 Energy announced an agreement to deploy up to six gigawatts of new nuclear using NuScale technology.
Other developers are reaching construction stages. Kairos Power has received construction permits to build two test reactor facilities in Tennessee, with a low-power demonstration reactor targeted to operate in East Tennessee. Oklo broke ground on its Aurora Powerhouse project at Idaho National Laboratory, starting at 15 megawatts-electric with plans to scale to commercial capacity.
Corporate demand is reinforcing the momentum. Meta entered an agreement with TerraPower for up to eight Natrium plants, part of a wider pattern of technology companies contracting advanced nuclear to meet data center power needs.
The activity marks a shift for a technology long confined to design work, as multiple US projects now move toward licensing decisions and construction milestones.
Source: American Nuclear Society - https://www.ans.org/news/article-7818/nrc-approves-terrapower-construction-permit/