Texas SMRs, explained
A short guide to small reactors and what Texas is doing about them.
What an SMR is
A small modular reactor is a nuclear reactor built smaller than a traditional plant, with parts made in a factory where possible. The Department of Energy says these designs range from tens of megawatts up to hundreds of megawatts, and can be used for electricity, industrial heat, desalination and more. Some are cooled by water. Others use gas, liquid metal or molten salt. [DOE]
The International Atomic Energy Agency defines SMRs as reactors of up to 300 megawatts of electricity (MW(e)) per unit, about a third of a traditional reactor. [IAEA]
Why Texas
- State money and an office. House Bill 14, by Rep. Cody Harris and Sen. Charles Schwertner, created the Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office in the Governor's office and a $350 million fund. It took effect September 1, 2025. [1] [2]
- Construction grants. The $280 million construction program caps each award at $120 million or half of qualifying costs, whichever is less, and a project has to have an application already docketed at the NRC. The $70 million development and supply chain program pays up to half of costs, up to $12.5 million. [3]
- Industry. Long Mott would sit at Dow's Seadrift site on the Gulf Coast. It would use high-temperature gas-cooled reactors with TRISO fuel. [4] [5]
- Universities. Abilene Christian University holds an NRC construction permit for a molten salt research reactor. Texas A&M is leasing land at RELLIS to reactor companies. [6] [7]
The state effort grew out of a 2023 directive from Gov. Greg Abbott telling the Public Utility Commission to create a working group on advanced nuclear power. [8] [8a]
What to watch
- The NRC's final safety evaluation for Long Mott, targeted for November 2026, and the permit decision after it. [9] [9a]
- Who wins the state's first nuclear grants. No awards are posted on the fund's page yet. [10]
- Public comments on the Fermi America draft environmental statement, due November 23, 2026. That project uses large AP1000 reactors, not SMRs. [11]
- Progress on the Terrestrial Energy and Last Energy projects at Texas A&M-RELLIS. [12] [13]