Much of the focus of global nuclear exports has been focused on the exporting capability and the readiness
of the technologies, but once all these issues are resolved, if capacity building is not a part of the solution,
then customers for SMRs and ARs will not exist. Even when a customer is willing to purchase and accept
SMR and AR technologies, the US needs to be able to assess the readiness of a country to safely manage
these nuclear technology exports. Since the launch of the FIRST program, there has been an outpour of
demand for this capacity building program and the desire to work with the United States experts on the
establishment of clean and innovative technology. There are FIRST projects with ten countries, two regional
projects, and two more in the pipeline.
