SMR Licensing Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
SMR Licensing and Digital Instrumentation Patents
One family dominates the citation record. the reactor protection systems filings behind US20180190395A1 draw the deepest citation trail in this set, including 45 citations on the earliest published version. Filings opened this window at zero in 2017, climbed to a peak of 11 in 2018, and the tracked 2021-to-2024 span fell -100%. 2025 and 2026 are still partial because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the newest bars will keep rising as later filings publish.
- 1纽斯高动力有限责任公司39
- 2罗克克里克创新有限责任公司30
- 3PARAGON ENERGY SOLUTIONS LLC8
- 4泰拉能源公司4
- 5نوسكايل باور ، إل إل سي1
See the full smr licensing and digital instrumentation analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on SMR licensing patents
Who holds the most patents on SMR digital instrumentation and licensing?
Within this 45-record dataset, NuScale Power leads by a wide margin with 39 records against a fifth-place count of just 1, inside a ranking of 7 companies total. NuScale’s filings are frequently co-assigned with Rock Creek Innovations, the two appearing together on 30 records, the strongest co-assignee pairing in the set. Paragon Energy Solutions holds a smaller, separate co-filing relationship with NuScale on 8 records, and TerraPower holds a distinct safety-system position through its containment structure filings.
Is patent filing activity in SMR licensing and digital instrumentation still growing?
Filing peaked at 11 records in 2018 and the measured 2021-to-2024 span shows a -100% change, meaning that particular window fell to zero. That is the most reliable read available because 2024 is the most recent year with largely complete publication data. 2025 and 2026 counts should not be read as a continued decline, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months and those years are still filling in.
What does US20180190395A1 cover and why does it matter?
US20180190395A1, titled Nuclear Reactor Protection Systems and Methods, is the most-cited record in this landscape at 45 citations, with related family members WO2015112304A2, US20200343009A1, US11017907B2 and US20240087761A1 also ranking among the most-cited. Together they form the citation baseline that later filers in reactor protection logic are measured against. Anyone drafting claims in this area should expect this family to surface early in any prior-art search.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on SMR Licensing and Digital Instrumentation covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.