What is a Small Modular Reactor (SMR)? The tiny nuclear plant with very big ambitions

Small modular reactors, or SMRs, are the nuclear industry’s attempt to stop building gigantic one-off monsters and start building smaller, factory-made reactors that can be shipped, stacked, and deployed where big plants make no sense. Here’s how SMRs work, why they exist, where they’re showing up, and why the idea is both exciting and suspiciously complicated.



