Programmes and agreements / prg-ae-enec-advance-programme

ENEC ADVANCE programme for advanced reactors and its COP28 SMR memoranda

Around COP28 in December 2023 ENEC launched a programme to evaluate advanced reactors, later named ADVANCE, and signed memoranda with MoltexFLEX, X-energy and USNC, after earlier MoUs with GE Hitachi (BWRX-300), TerraPower (Natrium) and Westinghouse. These are evaluation agreements, no plant, site or order is recorded.

Not a deployment project. SMR plans, agreements, studies and government programmes that are not (yet) a single deployment project. They are listed separately and are never counted as projects or reactors.

Type

Government programme

Countries concerned

United Arab Emirates

Participants and roles

• Government: Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC)
• Developer or vendor: GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy
• Developer or vendor: X-energy
• Developer or vendor: Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation
• Developer or vendor: MoltexFLEX
• Developer or vendor: TerraPower

Designs named

BWRX-300, FLEX, Natrium, Xe-100

Scale as stated

technology evaluations, no units or sites

Announced or first reported

Dec 2023

Status

Active
Evaluation MoUs under ENEC's ADVANCE programme, no plant, site or order.

Confidence

medium

Last checked

2026-10-14 (record review date, not proof of current activity)

Related deployment projects

• No related deployment project is recorded here.

Sources

• ENEC signs multiple SMR MoUs (reputable_press, published 11 Dec 2023, accessed 2026-10-14)
• ENEC and GE Vernova Hitachi sign small modular reactor deployment evaluation MoU during World Utilities Congress (company_primary, published 27 May 2025, accessed 2026-10-14)