The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) developed the Oak Ridge Siting Analysis for Power Generation Expansion (OR-SAGE) tool in response to studies on national electrical energy supply.

OR-SAGE is a database that uses geographic information system (GIS) data to identify candidate areas for power generation technology applications by evaluating sites against exclusionary, avoidance, and suitability criteria. The tool was enhanced to focus on issues related specifically to the siting of small modular reactors (SMRs).

The objective of the siting evaluation is to demonstrate the capability to identify any particular issues associated with repowering existing coal stations with SMRs, and not intended to be a definitive assessment of any particular site’s absolute suitability.