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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/integral-pressurized-water-smr-design-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Small Modular ReactorsIntegral Pressurized Water SMR Design Patents: Who Holds the Core Claims
- 77.9% of all 77 records sit with just five assignees, while the remaining eighteen ranked filers split the rest — a concentrated field with a long tail.
- Marine and naval deployment shows up in over a quarter of records (B63B, 27.3%), pointing to offshore and shipyard-delivered reactor platforms as a distinct filing cluster, not a footnote.
- Filings peaked in 2022 at 12 and have tapered since, though the 2025-2026 count is understated by the usual publication lag.
77
Published Records
78%
Top-5 Share of All Records
US
Leading Jurisdiction
23
Active Filers Ranked
Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 77 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··6 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this landscape covers
This review covers 77 published patent families filed between 2015 and 2026 that combine integral or modular pressurized-water reactor architecture with at least one of natural circulation cores, integrated steam generators, containment sizing, load-following operation, factory fabrication, or seismic isolation. The scope is deliberately narrow: it is not all SMR patenting, but the subset where reactor design claims meet a specific engineering constraint that shapes how a unit is built, sited or licensed. Publication lag of roughly eighteen months means the last one to two years of filings are undercounted in any trend line drawn from this data.
Patent families, not raw document counts, are the unit used throughout this review, which limits the distortion that comes from continuation practice and multi-jurisdiction refiling of the same invention.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Integral Pressurized Water SMR Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 77 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
From first wave to plateau
Annual filings ran from 11 in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2022, then declined toward 1 in 2026 — a partial year that will fill in as later publications clear the pipeline. Read the recent downturn cautiously rather than as a settled retreat from the space.
Reactor and plant classes dominate, marine classes cluster distinctly
G21D (nuclear power plants) and G21C (nuclear reactors) cover 61.0% and 53.2% of the 77 records respectively, which is expected given the search scope. The more informative signal is B63B (ships and marine vessels) at 27.3%, alongside smaller but consistent counts in E02D, E04H, B63G, F02B and E02B — foundations, specialised structures and engine classes that trace the siting and deployment problem rather than the core physics.
Shares are the percentage of the 77 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Integral Pressurized Water SMR Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Integral Pressurized Water SMR Design with Eureka
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A closer look at one record
Representative Record · US20210180284A1
Systems and methods for periodic material-based seismic isolation for underground structures
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM
A seismic isolation system for underground structures comprises a periodic foundation and periodic arrays of piles in the soil or periodic piles that surround the underground structure. The periodic piles can substantially reduce incoming seismic waves from the lateral direction, and the combination of periodic foundation and periodic piles can result in total isolation for the underground structure — of particular interest for underground nuclear power plants and structures with basements.Filed by University of Houston System, published 2021-06-17.
Most-cited records in this landscape
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20210098143A1 | Offshore and marine vessel-based nuclear reactor configuration, deployment and operation | 80 |
| 2 | US20110206173A1 | Small, fast neutron spectrum nuclear power plant with a long refueling interval | 41 |
| 3 | US20210082591A1 | Network and information systems and methods for shipyard manufactured and ocean delivered nuclear platform | 18 |
| 4 | WO2018107170A1 | Small modular reactor power plant with load following and cogeneration capabilities and methods of using | 13 |
| 5 | US20150052886A1 | Nanofuel engine apparatus and nanofuel | 13 |
| 6 | US20190206580A1 | Small modular reactor power plant with load following and cogeneration capabilities and methods of using | 8 |
| 7 | US20140321590A1 | Small, fast neutron spectrum nuclear power plant with a long refueling interval | 8 |
| 8 | US20220281568A1 | Marine power structure and coastal nuclear power station therefor | 7 |
| 9 | WO2018175663A2 | Systems and methods for shipyard manufactured and ocean delivered nuclear platform | 7 |
| 10 | US20200027575A1 | Small, fast neutron spectrum nuclear power plant with a long refueling interval | 6 |
Ranked by citation count within the searched corpus; older filings accumulate citations simply by being available longer, so treat this as a signal of influence rather than of current importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Integral Pressurized Water SMR Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data indicates
Three readings of the same 77-record set, each pointing at a different decision a filer or licensor needs to make.
Concentration
77.9% / 5 assignees
share of all 77 records
The top of the field is narrow
Five assignees hold 60 of the 77 records in scope. The ranked list runs to 23 companies total, so most of the field is a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants rather than a broad competitive middle.
Top 10 combined account for all 77 records (100.0%).
Deployment mode
27.3% B63B
of 77 records
Marine deployment is a real filing cluster
Over a quarter of records carry a ships-and-marine-vessels classification alongside reactor classes, plus smaller counts in naval vessel and hydraulic engineering classes. This points to offshore and shipyard-delivered platforms as a distinct design track rather than an edge case.
B63B 27.3%, B63G 7.8%, E02B 6.5% of 77 records.
Momentum
12 filings in 2022
peak year
Activity has cooled since the 2022 peak
Filings ran from 11 in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2022, then declined toward the present. Recent-year assignee momentum is thin across the board, with most tracked leaders showing zero filings in the latest year — consistent with publication lag rather than a clear exit.
2017: 11 → 2022: 12 (peak) → 2026: 1 (partial year).
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Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Integral Pressurized Water SMR Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Competitive Set
Who is filing, and where the ground is open
The ranked leaders sit alongside a handful of universities and single inventors, with co-assignee activity mostly linking one clean-energy developer to its named inventor and two academic pairs working the same seismic and structural angle.
Leader
17 records
of 77 in scope
A single filer well ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 17 of the 77 records, more than double the fifth-place count of 6. That gap is the clearest concentration signal in the dataset.
Leader: 17 · Fifth place: 6 · Tenth place: 2.
Co-filing
10 pairs
co-assignee pairs identified
Most collaboration is developer-inventor, not developer-developer
The strongest co-assignee link pairs a clean-energy SMR developer with a named individual inventor across 6 shared records. Two university pairs each co-file 3 records, both centred on structural and seismic work.
Strongest pair: 6 shared records.
Academic presence
3 universities ranked
in the 23-company list
University filings cluster on structure, not core physics
The academic entrants in this ranking file on foundations, seismic isolation and specialised structures rather than reactor internals — a narrower but less contested slice of the landscape.
Represented in E02D and E04H classes among others.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| ENERGIE PROPRE PRODIGY LTEE PRODIGY CLEAN ENERGY LTD | 1 | — |
| Advanced Reactor Concepts LLC | 0 | — |
| GLOBAL ENERGY RESEARCH ASSOCIATES LLC | 0 | — |
| TROJER MATHIAS | 0 | — |
| BLUE ENERGY GLOBAL INC | 0 | — |
| ZORA ENERGY SYST LLC | 0 | — |
| University of Maryland | 0 | — |
| Strong Force IoT Portfolio 2016 LLC | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Integral Pressurized Water SMR Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Next Steps
Where to take this next
This landscape frames the filing pattern; the next steps depend on whether you are clearing a design or scouting a gap.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader's claim set
With one assignee holding 17 of 77 records, any integral PWR design work should start by mapping claims against that portfolio specifically, not the field average.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaWatch the marine deployment cluster
B63B classification appears in over a quarter of records — a track worth monitoring separately from core reactor physics filings.
Track marine SMR filings in EurekaRevisit the trend once 2025-2026 data matures
Publication lag means the apparent slowdown after 2022 is not yet a reliable signal; a re-check in twelve to eighteen months will sharpen the picture.
Set a monitoring alert in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Integral Pressurized Water SMR Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions on this landscape
One assignee leads with 17 of the 77 records in this dataset, well ahead of the fifth-ranked filer at 6. The top five assignees combined hold 60 records, which is 77.9% of all 77 records in scope, so the field is concentrated rather than evenly split. The remaining eighteen ranked companies, universities and individual inventors account for a long tail of smaller filings.
Within this scope, yes: 27.3% of the 77 records carry a ships-and-marine-vessels classification (B63B), and a smaller set also touch naval vessel classes (B63G, 7.8%). That suggests offshore and shipyard-delivered reactor platforms are a genuine, separately-claimed design track rather than an incidental overlap with reactor patents.
Filings rose from 11 in 2017 to a peak of 12 in 2022, then declined toward 1 in the partial 2026 year. Because publication typically lags filing by around eighteen months, the most recent one to two years understate actual activity, so it is too early to call this a definitive slowdown rather than a reporting gap.
US20210180284A1, filed by University of Houston System, claims a seismic isolation system combining a periodic foundation with periodic arrays of piles surrounding an underground structure, aimed specifically at underground nuclear power plants and structures with basements. It is one of the more cited records in this dataset and sits in a sub-area with relatively few competing filings. Anyone designing underground or below-grade containment with pile-based or periodic-material isolation should review its claim scope directly rather than assume it only covers general seismic engineering.
The clearest openings sit in the smaller IPC clusters: foundations and earth drilling (E02D, 9.1%), specialised structures (E04H, 9.1%) and hydraulic and waterway engineering (E02B, 6.5%) all show filing activity well below the core reactor classes. Combined with the marine deployment cluster and load-following control schemes, these are areas where claim density is lower and a well-drafted first claim has more room to stand.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Integral Pressurized Water SMR Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.