Japanese firms are developing Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), nuclear units that are touted as the sector’s next phase and best bet to further spread nuclear power across the globe, especially to cash-strapped countries. Most significant developments by Japanese companies, however, are taking place outside of the country.

With a capacity of under 300 MW, SMRs comprises diverse kinds of technologies, including conventional reactors such as BWRs/PWRs and experimental ones. They are modular, meaning the components can be mass-produced and assembled on site.

Hyped as a game changer for the nuclear industry, the SMR is still an underdeveloped technology, with only Russia and China having commercially operable reactors. In April, however, the technology took a big step forward in G7 countries, when a project using GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s BWRX-300 secured permission to begin construction in Canada.

Another Japanese firm is in talks to build an SMR in the U.S. based on Japan’s own innovative gas-cooling technology. That project is still in the early stages, but it’s already attracting attention from big energy users, such as data center companies, which are eager to find solutions to their power hungry business.

Proponents of SMRs hope such projects will pave the way to develop a safer, easier to deploy nuclear power source that can balance out the rising wave of variable renewable energy. With Japan’s domestic nuclear sector slow to reemerge, success abroad is seen as vital to realizing SMRs in a real, commercial setting. A positive track record of SMRs operating overseas would pave the way to the tech’s introduction in Japan’s home market.