Small Modular Reactor

A small modular reactor (SMR) is an advanced nuclear fission reactor typically producing up to about 300 megawatts of electrical power per module and designed for modular deployment. Smaller than conventional large reactors, SMRs are designed to allow factory fabrication of systems or modules for transport and installation individually or in groups. This approach is intended to shorten construction and support staged expansion, but deployment speed depends on licensing, supply chains, construction, and financing; much of the technology remains under development. Applications include electricity generation, process heat, desalination, and hydrogen production. Nuclear energy is low-carbon over its life cycle, not entirely carbon-free. Within Artificial Intelligence infrastructure, SMRs are being explored as potential power sources for hyperscale Data Centers supporting Large Language Model training and Inference, including Compute Clusters using NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have announced broader nuclear-energy initiatives, with SMR-related agreements or investments among these efforts, but planned SMR projects are not established critical power supplies for their AI workloads. Amazon’s nuclear arrangements also include electricity from an existing large reactor, which is not an SMR. Depending on their design and electrical configuration, SMRs may provide firm or dispatchable electricity for grid-connected, small-grid, or some off-grid applications; they are neither inherently grid-independent nor necessarily operated solely as baseload generators, and their ability to follow changing data-center demand is deployment-dependent.