SMR Compact & Integral Layout Patent Snapshot 2026
The patent corpus for SMR compact and integral reactor layouts is extremely small, with General Electric Co holding the leading position among just three identified applicants. Filing activity is nascent and highly concentrated, signaling that this specific sub-domain remains largely open terrain for new entrants.
General Electric leads a field with near-zero filing depth
General Electric Co ranks first among all applicants, holding 2 patent records — the only applicant with more than a single filing in this specific sub-domain. Two academic institutions, Sejong University and. China Three Gorges University, each account for 1 patent record, rounding out a three-player field.
The top five applicants collectively account for 100% of the top hundred ranked applicants’ combined total, a concentration figure that reflects an extremely thin filing base rather than a winner-take-all commercial race. There is effectively no second tier.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | General Electric Company | 2 | |
| 2 | Sejong University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation | 1 | |
| 3 | China Three Gorges University | 1 |
General Electric’s positional advantage is meaningful but fragile: a corpus this small can shift rapidly with a single focused filing programme by any well-resourced entrant. The two academic filings suggest exploratory research activity rather than committed commercialisation.
The corpus covers a narrow sub-domain; activity in adjacent SMR areas (e.g. reactor safety systems, passive cooling) would require a separately scoped search. The most recent filing periods may also be undercounted due to standard patent publication lags of 18–24 months.
A single 2025 record in an otherwise dormant filing timeline
The annual trend and technology-class breakdown together reveal a sub-domain that has produced almost no recorded output across the observed window, with all activity concentrated in a single IPC class.
Annual filing trend
The trend chart shows zero filings in every year from 2017 through 2024, with a single record appearing in 2025 and nothing yet recorded for 2026. Given publication lag of 18–24 months, 2025 and 2026 figures should be treated as provisional lower bounds rather than definitive counts. No sustained growth trajectory can be read from this data.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
All 4 patent records in scope fall under G21C (Nuclear reactors), with no dispersion across other IPC classes. This uniformity confirms that compact and integral layout patents in this corpus are tightly bounded to core reactor design rather than spreading into adjacent domains such as thermal-hydraulics instrumentation or balance-of-plant engineering.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Module reactor for land power plant and its manufa…
A self-contained modular nuclear reactor which can be prefabricated at a factory location, nuclear-certified at the factory, transported to a field location for final assembly and connection to a large-scale electric-power generating facility. The modular reactor includes a prefabricated nuclear heat supply module and a plurality of shell segments which can… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Small modular nuclear reactor core and nuclear rea… | 14 |
| 2 | Module reactor for land power plant and its manufa… | 11 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
General Electric Co
General Electric Co leads with 2 patent records, focused across G21C subclasses covering reactor design (G21C 1), reactor structures (G21C 13), and cooling systems (G21C 15). Applicant momentum data is not available in this corpus, so directional trajectory cannot be confirmed. Their multi-subclass coverage suggests a broader systems-level approach to compact reactor layout rather than a single-point design bet.
Patent records: 2Sejong University
Sejong University (via its industry-academic cooperation foundation) holds 1 patent record, with technical emphasis spanning G21C 1 (reactor design), G21C 3 (fuel elements), and G21C 7 (reactor control). This spread suggests a research-led agenda touching multiple reactor subsystems. China Three Gorges University also holds 1 record, with focus on G21C 17 (monitoring and testing) and G21C 5 (pressure vessels/containment), indicating an instrumentation and structural angle. Momentum data for both academic applicants is not available.
Patent records: 1Frequently asked questions
The evidence in scope identifies 1 patent family and a handful of patent records across three applicants. This is an extremely narrow corpus, reflecting either the early-stage nature of this specific sub-domain or the specificity of the search query used to define it.
General Electric Co leads with 2 patent records, followed by Sejong University’s industry-academic cooperation foundation and China Three Gorges University, each with 1 record.
Japan accounts for 2 patent records, making it the lead jurisdiction. China and South Korea each account for 1 record. No US jurisdiction records appear in the current corpus for this specific sub-domain.
All 4 patent records fall under G21C (Nuclear reactors). Sub-subclasses represented include G21C 1 (reactor design), G21C 3 (fuel elements), G21C 5 (pressure vessels), G21C 7 (reactor control), G21C 13 (structural components), G21C 15 (cooling), and G21C 17 (monitoring and testing).
No co-applicant relationships are recorded in the current evidence. Each of the three applicants files independently, and there are no identifiable licensing consortia or joint-development patent footprints in this corpus.
The top-cited document is titled ‘Small modular nuclear reactor core and nuclear reactor’ with 14 citations, and the second is ‘Module reactor for land power plant and its manufacture’ with 11 citations. Patent numbers for these records are not provided in the current evidence.
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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.