(Jan 6): Electricite de France SA (EDF) is simplifying the design of its small modular nuclear reactors (SMR), targeted to replace coal-fired power plants. 

The SMR “will rely on well-known and perfectly mastered technological building blocks within the nuclear sector,” EDF said in a post on Linkedin on Monday. The company wants to finalise the reactor concept by mid-2026 and market a product for the 2030s, with the first built in France.

The French state-owned utility ditched a more complex design six month ago, after reaching a technological roadblock that might have taken years to overcome. The setback means EDF is losing ground to rivals such as Rolls Royce Holdings plc and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, which are being considered for SMR construction in countries such as the UK, Sweden and the Czech Republic.     

Developers plan to largely manufacture SMRs in factories, saying they should be easier to build and safer to operate than large-scale atomic plants. They could supply power and heat to remote cities and large industrial sites, replacing coal plants.  

The French company said its new Nuward SMR will deliver 400 megawatts (MW) of power and offer an option for co-generation of heat that could be used in industrial processes. 

EDF’s now-abandoned design entailed two 170MW reactors each housed in a single nuclear building. Its new generation of large-scale reactors provide more than 1,600MW of electricity.

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