The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €300 million French measure to support Electricité de France’s (EDF) subsidiary Nuward in researching and developing small modular nuclear reactors (‘SMRs’). The measure will contribute to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the European industrial strategy and the European Green Deal.
The French measure
France notified to the Commission its plan to grant €300 million to Nuward to support its research and development (R&D’) project on SMR technology.
The project aims to develop processes for the design and construction of SMRs based on a simple and modular design and with a power output equivalent to or less than 300 MWe. The front-end design is the third phase of the overall Nuward project, which contains five distinct phases. In December 2022, the Commission already approved a €50 million French measure to support the second phase of the project, aimed at acquiring new knowledge for the design and construction of SMRs.
Under the measure, the aid will take the form of a direct grant of up to €300 million that will cover the R&D project until early 2027.