Licensing for SMRs has been an ongoing discussion . There was a workshop in October 2009 about licensing difficulties and another in June 2010 , with a US congressional hearing in May 2010 . With growing worries about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions , added to problems with hydrocarbon supplies from foreign countries and accidents like the BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico , many US government agencies are working to push the development of different licensing for SMRs . However , some argue that weakening safety regulations to push the development of SMRs may cancel out their enhanced safety characteristics
BP oil rig explosion
Deepwater Horizon explosion
Small modular reactor