The United-States move toward the deployment of the first SMRs

The budget of the Department of Energy for 2021 has been validated, it represents 42 billions dollars with an increase of 3.45 billions as compared with 2020. 1.5 billions dollars are dedicated to nuclear research including 280 millions for the Advanced Reactor Development Program (ARDP) that backs the development of small modular reactors (SMRs). The ARDP program develops SMR technology following 3 fields. The first field concerns the development of the most advanced projects that could lead to the construction of reactors in the present decade. 2 projects are concerned: Natrium developed by GE-Hitachi and TerraPower, is a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor and Xe-100 is a 80 MW high-temperature gas cooled reactor. The second field concerns the removal of technical locks in innovative reactor projects: 5 projects have been selected to receive funds: the Hermes reduced scale test reactor, the eVinci micro-reactor, the BWXT advanced nuclear reactor, the Holtec SMR-160 reactor and the molten chloride reactor experiment. The third field is named ARC-20 for advanced reactor concept, it aims at backing concepts that will bring significant improvements in the fuel cycle, reactor safety and competitiveness. The various projects reviewed in this article are those supported by DOE, but others exist, which shows the importance of SMRs in the USA. (A.C.)