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Commercial SMRs have been designed to deliver an [[electrical power]] output as low as 5 [[Watt#MWe|MW<sub>e</sub>]] (electric) and up to 300 MW<sub>e</sub> per module. SMRs may also be designed purely for desalinization or facility heating rather than electricity. These SMRs are measured in megawatts thermal [[Watt#MWt|MW<sub>t</sub>]]. Many SMR designs rely on a modular system, allowing customers to simply add modules to achieve a desired electrical output.
Similar military small reactors were first designed in the 1950s to power submarines and ships with nuclear propulsion.<ref name="BASE">{{cite web |author=BASE, the German Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management |date=2023-01-15 |title=Small Modular Reactors (SMR) |url=https://www.base.bund.de/en/nuclear-safety/nuclear-technology/small-modular-reactors/small-modular-reactors.html |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=BASE}}</ref> However, military small reactors are quite different from commercial SMRs in fuel type, design, and safety. The military, historically, relied on highly-enriched uranium (HEU) to power their small plants and not the low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel type used in SMRs. Power generation requirements are also substantially different. Nuclear-powered naval ships require instantaneous bursts of power and must rely on small, onboard tanks of seawater and freshwater for steam-driven electricity. The thermal output of the largest naval reactor as of 2025 is estimated at 700 MW<sub>t</sub> (the [[A1B reactor]]).<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 February 2025 |title=Nuclear-Powered Ships: Nuclear Propulsion Systems |url=http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/non-power-nuclear-applications/transport/nuclear-powered-ships.aspx |publisher=World Nuclear Association}}</ref> Pressure Water Reactor (PWR) SMRs generate much smaller power loads per module, which are used to heat large amounts of freshwater, stored inside the module and surrounding the
To overcome the substantial space limitations facing Naval designers, sacrifices in safety and efficiency systems are required to ensure fitment. Today's SMRs are designed to operate on many acres of rural land, creating near limitless space for radically different storage and safety technology designs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Small Nuclear Power Reactors |url=https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/small-nuclear-power-reactors |website=world-nuclear.org |publisher=World Nuclear Association |access-date=24 August 2025}}</ref> Still, small military reactors have an excellent record of safety. According to public information, the Navy has never succumbed to a meltdown or radioactive release in the United States over its 60 years of service. In 2003 Admiral [[Frank Bowman]] backed up the Navy's claim by testifying no such accident has ever occurred.<ref>{{cite web |title=NASA's organizational and management challenges in the wake of the Columbia disaster |url=https://www.congress.gov/event/108th-congress/house-event/LC15416/text |website=www.congress.gov |quote="our nuclear‑powered ships ... have steamed ... without a reactor accident ... with no measurable negative impact on the environment or human health" |date=29 October 2003}}</ref>
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