Nuclear Scaling Initiative Unveils Reactor Selection Tool

The Nuclear Scaling Initiative (NSI)—a partnership between Clean Air Task Force, EFI Foundation, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative to enable the rapid expansion of safe and secure nuclear energy—today released the Reactor Selection Tool (RST), an independent, objective web-based resource that enables informed comparisons of reactor designs on a set of key criteria. NSI’s development of the tool was supported by the Bezos Earth Fund. The RST is designed to guide utilities, investors, governments, and other decision-makers across the global nuclear energy landscape through a complex marketplace to find the reactor design that best suits their needs.

“For the first time, decision-makers can easily compare a wide range of reactors thanks to the RST’s transparent, expert-developed framework and accessible interface,” said NTI President and CEO Christine E. Wormuth, co-chair of NSI’s Steering Committee. “Not all reactors are created equal, and the RST’s comprehensive view of these different technologies does the important job of highlighting which are primed to scale safely and securely.”

The RST includes a set of 35 reactor designs from around the world that range in size, technology, and deployment application, and evaluates each one across eight criteria: deployment timescale, overnight cost, operational cost, cost predictability, security, safety, spent fuel and radioactive waste management, and supply chain. NSI developed this measurement framework in consultation with an international panel of experts.

“At a moment when rapidly and responsibly deploying nuclear energy is essential, NSI knows that decision-makers need clear, credible information to guide the process,” said Steve Comello, NSI’s executive director. “The RST delivers exactly that—objective insights that cut through the noise and ensure that technology choices are aligned with successful, scalable deployment.”

The RST plays a key role in NSI’s broader strategy to accelerate deployment by helping prospective buyers form orderbooks around a single reactor design of their choice—a mechanism that will reduce costs, streamline licensing, and send predictable demand signals for the necessary work force and supply chains. The RST will facilitate the development of multiple orderbooks by ensuring all parties are working from the same set of facts as they weigh fundamental differences between reactors and coalesce around the most promising options.

“Selecting among the many reactor technologies on the market is a consequential step in orderbook formation,” said NTI Vice President Scott Roecker, a lead advisor at NSI. “The RST provides a structured, evidenced-based way for decision-makers get that process right, by narrowing options, aligning priorities, and moving collectively toward technologies that can scale with speed, safety, and confidence.”

With today’s release, NSI is making the RST openly available on its website to support responsible, well-informed nuclear energy expansion worldwide. NSI will update the tool periodically as new designs emerge, new data becomes available, and the global reactor landscape continues to evolve.