Global RaceRussia has been running a small modular reactor commercially since 2020. China expects to connect its first land-based SMR to the grid before the end of 2026. Everyone else on this list is still building, financing, or licensing. That gap between operating and planning is the real story of the global SMR race right now, and it does not sort neatly along the lines most people assume. š
Here are the five countries actually moving reactors from paper to steel, ranked by how far each one has gotten, not by how loud the marketing is. āļø
Russia: the only country with an SMR already on the grid
Rosatomās floating plant Akademik Lomonosov has supplied power to the Arctic town of Pevek since 2020, and it remains the only operating small modular reactor on Earth. That first-mover status has not slowed the company down. Rosatom is now building a land-based follow-up: the RITM-200N, a 55 MWe pressurized water reactor adapted from the reactors that power Russiaās nuclear icebreaker fleet. š¢
The RITM-200N project sits near Ust-Kuyga in the Republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, where Rostekhnadzor granted a construction license back in April 2023. Rosatom targets commissioning in 2028, and by mid-2026 the company reported preparatory work proceeding at full tilt, with worker camps and site infrastructure well underway. Russia is not stopping at home turf, either. In 2024, Rosatom signed the worldās first SMR export contract with Uzbekistan, a six-unit RITM-200N project, and it has eight RITM reactor units in production at its ZIO-Podolsk plant right now, split between icebreakers and floating power units. š¦
Akademik Lomonosov: operating since 2020, the worldās only commercial floating nuclear plant
Yakutia RITM-200N: 55 MWe land-based unit, licensed April 2023, commissioning targeted 2028
Uzbekistan deal: six RITM-200N units, the first SMR export contract signed anywhere
Baimsky Mining project: four floating power units at up to 106 MWe each, supplying an industrial mine site
Worth noting for anyone comparing notes across the industry: Rosatomās advantage is decades of actual operating hours on small marine reactors, not paper studies. That track record is why land-based deployment moved this fast.
China: closest to the next commercial SMR anywhere in the world
China National Nuclear Corporationās Linglong One, also called the ACP100, is a 125 MWe integrated pressurized water reactor under construction at the Changjiang site in Hainan Province. First concrete went down in July 2021, cold functional testing wrapped in late 2025, and CNNC is targeting commercial operation in the first half of 2026. That would make it the worldās first commercial land-based SMR to enter service. ā”
Linglong One also has a paperwork distinction few designs can claim: it passed an IAEA generic reactor safety review back in 2016, the first SMR anywhere to clear that bar. Once running, CNNC expects the unit to generate enough electricity for roughly 526,000 households and cut carbon emissions by about 880,000 tons a year. That single project sits inside a much bigger buildout. In April 2025, Chinaās State Council approved construction of 10 new reactors across five coastal sites, a roughly Ā„200 billion, or $27 billion, commitment, and China currently has close to 29 reactors under construction nationwide, nearly half the global total. šļø
Linglong One (ACP100): 125 MWe, Hainan Province, commercial operation targeted H1 2026
IAEA safety review: passed in 2016, the first SMR design to do so
Supply chain: built almost entirely with domestic Chinese components, per CNNC technical reporting
National buildout: roughly 29 reactors under construction across China, alongside a Ā„200 billion coastal expansion approved in April 2025
Which raises the question every Western developer is quietly wrestling with: if Linglong One hits its 2026 target on a 58-month build, does that construction benchmark become the number every other country gets measured against? š
Canada: the first G7 country to start pouring SMR concrete
Ontario Power Generation is building the first of four planned GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors at its Darlington site, and it is the first new nuclear construction in Ontario in more than three decades. Each unit runs 300 MWe, with natural circulation cooling and passive safety systems built on the licensed ESBWR platform. The full four-unit project, once complete, is expected to deliver 1,200 MW and power roughly 1.2 million homes. š§
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued OPG a construction license for the first unit in April 2025, and the province backed the project with a CAD 20.9 billion investment approval. Progress has kept moving through 2026: OPG completed shaft excavation in March, and the CNSC lifted the projectās first regulatory hold point that same month after verifying the reactor building foundation met its commitments. OPG has also applied for a 20-year operating license, with a public hearing still to come. š
First unit: BWRX-300, 300 MWe, construction license issued April 2025 by the CNSC
Full project: four units, 1,200 MW total, CAD 20.9 billion provincial investment approval
Milestone: first regulatory hold point lifted March 30, 2026, following foundation verification
Target: first unit online by the end of the decade, per OPGās public schedule
Canadaās edge is not novelty. The BWRX-300 leans on an already-licensed reactor design, and OPG is reusing the same workforce that just finished refurbishing Darlingtonās original CANDU units, ahead of schedule and CAD 150 million under budget. Execution discipline, not a new physics breakthrough, is what is actually moving dirt here.
United Kingdom: the funding and regulatory leader in Europe
Rolls-Royce SMR is the only design to reach Step 3, the final phase, of the UKās three-step Generic Design Assessment, run jointly by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Environment Agency, and Natural Resources Wales. Its 470 MWe pressurized water reactor was selected as the UK governmentās preferred SMR technology in June 2025, and in April 2026, Great British Energy-Nuclear signed a firm contract to build the first three units at Wylfa in North Wales. š·
The money behind that contract is specific and public. The UKās 2025 Spending Review allocated Ā£2.6 billion toward the Wylfa program, and the National Wealth Fund separately committed up to Ā£599 million to support Rolls-Royce SMRās development. The three-unit Wylfa project is expected to deliver at least 1.4 GW of capacity, enough for roughly three million homes, and to support around 3,000 jobs at peak construction. Rolls-Royce SMR is also exporting the design: it signed a memorandum of understanding with ÄEZ and the Czech government to prepare sites for up to 3 GW of capacity in Czechia. š¬š§
Rolls-Royce SMR: 470 MWe PWR, the only design to reach GDA Step 3 in the UK
Wylfa contract: three units, at least 1.4 GW combined, signed April 2026 with GBE-N
Funding: Ā£2.6 billion from the 2025 Spending Review plus up to Ā£599 million from the National Wealth Fund
Export: MoU with ÄEZ for up to 3 GW of Rolls-Royce SMR capacity across Czech sites
If youāre tracking the nuclear market professionally, SMRbrief Pro gives you the structured database to go deeper than any single article can, especially once funding announcements start stacking up across multiple countries at the same pace they have this year.
United States: the deepest capital pool and the newest regulatory framework
The US holds two distinctions no other country can claim yet. NuScale Powerās VOYGR design became the first SMR design ever certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with the certification rule taking effect February 21, 2023. And TerraPowerās Natrium reactor, a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with molten salt storage that can push output to 500 MWe for hours at a stretch, became the first commercial non-light-water reactor the NRC has approved for construction in more than 40 years. šŗšø
TerraPower received its construction permit for Kemmerer Unit 1 in Wyoming on March 4, 2026, and broke ground the following month. The project carries an estimated $4.0 billion price tag, with the Department of Energy covering $2 billion through its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. On the regulatory side, the NRCās new Part 53 rule took effect April 29, 2026, creating a technology-inclusive, risk-informed licensing path built specifically for non-light-water designs like Natrium, rather than forcing every reactor through a framework written decades ago for large pressurized water plants. š¬
NuScale VOYGR: first NRC-certified SMR design, certification effective February 21, 2023
TerraPower Natrium: 345 MWe baseline, 500 MWe peak, construction permit issued March 4, 2026
Kemmerer Unit 1: $4.0 billion estimated cost, $2 billion DOE cost-share
Regulatory shift: NRCās Part 53 technology-inclusive rule, effective April 29, 2026
What the US has that Russia and China do not is a wall of private capital chasing data center demand, from Big Tech power purchase agreements to a wave of SMR-focused public listings. What it does not have yet is a single operating commercial SMR, or a construction timeline anywhere close to Linglong Oneās. Which of these five programs actually reaches serial, repeatable deployment first: the one with the deepest pockets, or the one that has already proven it can build on schedule?