SMR Industrial Alliance – nucleareurope Policy Director outlines next steps
Following the official launch of the European Industrial Alliance on SMRs at its General Assembly in May 2024, nucleareurope Policy Director Andrei Goicea writes about the preparation work in the lead up to the General Assembly, and the next steps for nucleareurope, as a permanent member of the Alliance’s Governing Board.
The European Industrial Alliance on SMRs, launched on 6 February of this year, benefits from strong political support from the Commission, but also from the former European Parliament (exemplified by the INI on SMRs) and from the Council, particularly through Nuclear Alliance Members States.
With the main objective “to facilitate and accelerate the development, demonstration, and deployment of the first SMRs projects in Europe in the early 2030s”, the work of the Alliance aims to improve the policies regarding nuclear in general and SMRs in particular as well as to overcome the potential barriers in reaching these objectives.
On 29 and 30 May, the European Industrial Alliance on SMRs convened its first General Assembly meeting in Brussels, gathering about 240 in person and 140 online participants. This represents a very important step for the initiative, launched on 6 February, allowing for the adoption of decisions regarding its future activities, such as the process for evaluating the SMR projects, the establishment of eight Technical Working Groups (TWGs) with their proposed chairs and vice-chairs as well as the composition of the Governing Board.
Nucleareurope, represented by our Director General Yves Desbazeille, is a permanent member of the Governing Board, together with the European Commission, SNETP and the chairs of the TWGs.
Nucleareurope, as a member of the Alliance’s secretariat, contributed heavily to the preparatory work for this first General Assembly, together with representatives from the other partner organisations (European Commission and SNETP).
After the assessment of the applications received during the first call for membership (deadline on 12 April), the secretariat started the preparatory work for the operationalisation of the TWGs activities (Terms of Reference, presentations as well as proposals for leadership) and prepared proposals for updated project eligibility criteria. Aiming to kick-off the work of the first 4 TWGs (TWG2: Technology and R&D&I, TWG3: Supply Chain, TWG4: Skills and TWG8: Financing) by mid-June, the secretariat is providing support to the TWG chairs and vice-chairs to set-up the group meetings. Based on a survey to assess the preferences of the Alliance members for certain topics, running until 10 June, we now have a clear picture of each TWGs’ membership composition. Preparatory activities have also already started for the four other TWGs, scheduled to kick-off in October.
In parallel to the work for the TWGs, guidelines for SMR project initiators to describe their projects have been sent in early June to the interested members of the Alliance, with a deadline for response on 28 June, in light of the General Assembly discussions on the revised eligibility criteria. An assessment of the responses will be conducted by the end of September.
As next steps, the alliance will hold its first Governing Board on 4 July, the overall target being to have the technology roadmaps ready in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the Strategic Action Plan in the first quarter of 2025 .
Nucleareurope will continue its active involvement in the Alliance, supporting its members in becoming part of it. The support of the nuclear industry is also of utmost importance for such an industrial alliance, which represents a unique opportunity to highlight the challenges we face and getting them addressed by policy makers. The second call for applications is open and any questions can be sent to the Alliance’s e-mail address: grow-EU-SMRS-ALLIANCE@ec.europa.eu.
More information can be found on the Alliance webpage or the dedicated webpage on nucleareurope’s website.