Call summary :

Total Funding Ceiling: $19,500,000
Anticipated Number of Awards: Ten (10) Awards may range from a minimum of $50,000 to a maximum of $4,000,000
Period of Performance: 15 months

A.4. Objectives
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Empower potential nuclear energy newcomer countries to prioritize nuclear security, nonproliferation, and safety considerations from the outset as key decisional criteria when evaluating civil nuclear reactor technologies, with an emphasis on SMRs and other advanced reactor designs. FIRST provides capacity-building support to partner countries as they develop their nuclear energy programs to achieve their energy goals under the highest international standards for nuclear security, safety, and nonproliferation. FIRST provides this support in a manner consistent with the IAEA Milestones Approach for implementing a responsible nuclear power program. These efforts support the ability of the United States to uphold and strengthen global nuclear nonproliferation, security, and safety norms at the facility and national level and in international forums such as the IAEA.

FIRST prioritizes nuclear energy newcomer countries and, in some cases, current nuclear energy countries located primarily in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. This line of effort for FY25 is primarily focused on partner states including but not limited to Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, and regional), Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand), sub-Saharan Africa
(Ghana, Kenya, and regional), and a limited number of Central Asian (Kazakhstan, and regional), Latin American and the Caribbean (Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Jamaica, Peru, and regional). Funded activities under this line of effort will emphasize:

- Engaging high-level nuclear energy, science, and regulatory officials and other governmental stakeholders in partner countries for capacity-building engagements—both remote and in-person—on topics such as nuclear security, safety, and nonproliferation for SMRs, workforce development, stakeholder engagement, regulatory development and licensing for advanced reactors, SMR technology selection, non-predatory financial arrangements, and related topics. Engagements intended for high-level audiences should typically be accessible to officials who do not possess a deep technical background.

- Conducting expert-level, in-depth, capacity-building training, workshops, symposia, roundtables, asynchronous learning, academic exchanges, site visits, and study tours for governmental, industrial, scientific, academic and other technical stakeholders in partner countries on topics such as those mentioned above. These engagements should generally possess sufficient technical depth to engage a technical audience but must be tailored to meet the experience of the specific partner country to be engaged (from potential newcomer to advanced nuclear energy state).
As a U.S. foreign assistance program authorized to deliver nonproliferation capacity-building abroad, FIRST does not fund projects intended to advocate for nuclear energy to countries not currently exploring this option, to promote the U.S. nuclear industry, or to train U.S. personnel in U.S.-based institutions.

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C.1 Eligible Applicants

ISN/CTR welcomes applications from U.S.-based non-profit/non-governmental organizations with or without 501(c) (3) status of the U.S. tax code; foreign-based non-profit organizations/nongovernment organizations (NGO); federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs); Public International Organizations; Foreign Public Entity; U.S.-based private, public, or State institutions of higher education; Foreign-based institutions of higher education, and U.S. for-profit organizations or businesses...