[credit_guy]

I am as pro-nuclear as they come, but I find the tone of this article a bit too inflammatory. I used to think the NRC's licensing process is so complex only because of, you know, stupid bureaucracy. But I looked into the actual documents posted for the safety evaluation of the NuScale SMR, which you can find at [1]. I am not specialist, but there are plenty of topics that do appear to me to require serious consideration.

Here's an example from the final report [2] , something about "boron dilution"

  We are concerned especially about boron dilution in the downcomer by steam condensation from the steam generators or the vessel wall because it may provide a source of unborated coolant that can migrate to the core following a perturbation. 
  This could lead to a rapid return to power event (reactivity insertion accident) with the possibility of core damage.

Now, it probably depends on pronunciation, but to me "core damage" rhymes a little with Chernobyl. I am glad that the NRC took their time to evaluate this risk, and numerous other like that.

[1] https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/smr/nuscale/ser-op...

[2] https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2021/ML20212L586.pdf