Advanced nuclear energy technologies

Accelerating the SMR-300 design assessment

Roughly the size of two football fields, with production capacity of 300MWe per unit, Holtec Britain’s SMR-300 is a first-of-its-kind advanced SMR, offering safe, reliable, and economical carbon-free power.

We supported Holtec Britain throughout the generic design assessment (GDA) of its SMR-300 in the UK. The GDA is a voluntary process adopted by technology vendors to de-risk new nuclear reactor designs for future project stages. The process allows UK independent nuclear regulators – the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Environment Agency, and Natural Resources Wales – to assess the safety, security, and environmental implications of new reactor designs and to provide the confidence that designs will meet the UK's statutory regulatory requirements.

We supported Holtec Britain throughout the GDA process to complete in 10 months – 15% faster than anticipated and as much as 65% faster than any previous GDA. Having previously supported Holtec Britain to secure a match-funded £60M grant funding from the UK Government’s Future Nuclear Enabling Fund for the GDA, we continued to provide safety, engineering, environmental and regulatory support throughout the entire process.

​Paving the way for deployment and global recognition 

We also supported the rapid mobilisation of Holtec Britain to meet the requirements to enter Step 2 of the GDA – the first ever two-step GDA – which involved fundamental technical assessment by the UK regulators. We seconded key technical and project positions and acted as topic leads for a wide range of conversations as well as providing quality, environmental, and programme management roles. Our fully integrated team participated in more than 200 engagements with the UK regulators.

Looking ahead

Holtec has an ambition to deploy a fleet of SMR-300 in serial production by 2050, with first operations planned for the early 2030s. The SMR-300 is further undergoing safety assessment against International Atomic Energy Agency principles in multiple countries worldwide. ​