As interest in advanced nuclear technologies continues to grow, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are presented as a promising solution for clean, flexible and scalable energy generation. To support the safe deployment of these innovative systems, a thorough understanding of their unique safety characteristics and regulatory requirements is essential.

The Expert Group on SMRs (EGSMR) of the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) addresses safety challenges and develops a scientific basis which supports safety demonstration of the advanced and innovative methodologies and technologies used for SMRs. In a comprehensive report published in 2023, the EGSMR identified SMR safety related gaps of knowledge, cross cutting safety issues and provided recommendations for co-operative activities. Since then, the CSNI, through its working groups and joint undertakings, has launched several activities to make progress on the safety assessment of SMRs. More generally, cross cutting safety topics have recently been investigated deeper through national and multilateral initiatives.  These include the reliability of passive systems, transportability, application of defense-in-depth principle for innovative designs, remote/autonomous operation, multi-unit/module probabilistic safety assessment, human and organizational factors, emergency planning zones, fuel safety and more.

The EGSMR is an appropriate forum to disseminate the results of these recent activities and to identify new priorities to support the safe deployment of SMR technologies. The EGSMR is organizing the first “SMR Safety Assessment” workshop in November 2025 to disseminate the results of these recent activities and to identify new priorities to support the safe deployment of SMR technologies.

This workshop will cluster recent progress made on SMR safety assessment and in particular through international co-operation. It will also enable representatives from regulatory bodies, technical safety organisations, research institutes, universities and industry to share recent experience, learnings and perspectives and to identify the main challenges for the safety assessment of SMRs.

The meeting will consist of a plenary session on Day 1, followed by thematic sessions held in parallel on Day 2.

Programme Overview*

Day 1

• Session 1: International Initiatives to support the safe deployment of SMRs
• Session 2: Showstopppers for the deployment of SMRs - insights from stakeholders
• Session 3: SMR Cross cutting safety issues

Day 2

• Session 4: Break-out sessions to discuss the following hot topics:
  • Hot topic 1 - SMR siting plans: proximity to population and industrial processes
  • Hot topic 2 - Design maturity and confidence prior construction
  • Hot topic 3 - Safety considerations for batteries and micro-reactors
  • Hot topic 4 - Reliability of passive systems
  • Hot topic 5 - Human and Organisational Factors considerations for SMRs
  • Hot topic 6 - Demonstration of Safety Case
• Session 5: Wrap-up session

*The programme is still subject to change

This workshop is intended for nuclear safety experts from regulatory authorities, industry, laboratories and universities with an interest in SMR projects.

Participation to this event requires a registration through this link :

http://www.oecd-nea.org/confdb/confdb/conf?id=1092

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