EDF steps up the pace to launch its small modular reactor as quickly as possible

EDF is relaunching in the race for SMRs, these small modular nuclear reactors, dedicated to ensuring part of the future of the sector. The Nuward project has been redesigned by the group in order to better meet market expectations. According to our information, EDF is now opting for an SMR of 400 megawatts (MW), compared to twice 170 MW in its previous version. For comparison, French large-power reactors have a capacity of between 900 and 1600 MW depending on the generation.

The group made radical decisions. To begin with, it now focuses primarily on already proven technologies. In its initial version of the project, “several objects required years of work”explains a source close to the matter. There is no longer any question of choosing options likely to extend deadlines. We have to go quickly. The group is banking on a first seed in France in the early 2030s.
Shortening deadlines should also help keep costs down. The choice of power is also intended to allow the project to be profitable more quickly. Nuward will indeed be a pressurized water loop reactor, like those in the existing fleet. It is today the only third generation SMR project carried out by a European Union actor.

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This choice aims to allow EDF to stay in the race, in the face of competition. Nuward will thus be built without TechnicAtome, but with Framatome and other European manufacturers. SMRs could therefore be built at the same time as high-power reactors. The options taken by EDF aim, according to our information, to meet as closely as possible the expectations of potential customers, starting with large industrial groups. The latter are keen to secure their electricity supplies and are looking for proven technology. EDF’s SMR must respond to two main types of markets: the decarbonization of industry, in particular by bringing the heat they may need as close as possible to factories. Let’s not forget that a nuclear reactor primarily produces heat, which is then used to produce electricity. Heat networks, used to heat buildings, constitute the second market segment. On the other hand, that of replacing coal-fired power stations with SMRs seems to be moving away from the center of developers’ concerns.

The new version of Nuward remains “innovative”, by its design, but above all, by the construction options it will offer. The reactors must, in fact, be almost prefabricated before being assembled at their location. This option underlies the logic of all SMRs, aiming at the industrialization of manufacturing processes. Ultimately, the atomic world wants to build in series, in the same way as aviation.

The next step concerns the creation of the “conceptual design”, in good French. This sort of very advanced draft should be completed by mid-2026. EDF plans 70 million investments for Nuward in 2025.