Small Modular Reactor Prize Competition

The 2021 SMR Prize Competition – a virtual event being held from 7 June to 19 August 2021– will bring together an international cohort of students who will engage weekly to design, develop and ultimately pitch an optimised deployment scenario that requires use of an advanced reactor to support an industrial use.

Building on the success of the 2020 SMR Hackathon, the event is sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Agency, and the Small Modular Advanced Reactor Training (SMART) programme funded by NSERC-Canada with the aim to broaden the global discussion around nuclear energy solutions.

The 2021 SMR Prize Competition is organised in the framework of the Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology (NEST) Frameork SMR Project, an ongoing collaboration between academic and research institutions in Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland, and the United States.

CNRS Grenoble
EPFL
McMaster University
SCK-CEN
Texas A&M
University of California at Berkley
University of Regina
University of Saskatchewan
University of Wisconsin Madison

The end goal of this workshop is for the students to create a novel, optimised deployment scenario for using an advanced reactor (any reactor design newer than Generation II/III Light Water Reactors) to support an industrial use that requires combined heat and power. Students will be put into teams of 4-6 and will be provided with a mentor, with additional content-specific mentors available on call. At the end of the project, teams will deliver a pitch, using any communication tools they choose, that describes their deployment scenario, their chosen technology and why they chose it. They will also present the economic case, their chosen industrial use and why their choice of reactor is optimal, any safeguard implications, and the social engagement strategy. The winning team will be awarded 1000 euro per team member to be used as travel support to a technical conference. The funds will be held available for one year. If travel restrictions prevent immediate travel, the funds will be available for one year after travel restrictions are lifted.