CAREM-25 is a very low power nuclear station (25 MWelectric). It's designed based on principles of inherent safety, passive safety functions, and ease of operation. This paper analyzes the risk optimization on CAREM-25 NPP design by means of a problem-specific Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (HGA). The optimization focuses on changes on design by redundancy modifications and changes on maintenance and test schedules, evaluating the overall cost involved. This approach is complemented by the societal cost associated to the use of a new technology over the benefited population group. So, the total cost is minimized by means of the HGA. The application of the HGA generated different alternatives that were according to the expectations, but innovative in some sense. The maximum redundancy level reached was 2 (up to 3 was allowed), the alternatives point directly to the need of a supervision level (e.g. repairman and supervisor), the test interval over electronic components was found to be shorter than for mechanical components, and so on. But the most important result was to obtain a balanced design with their future maintenance and test schedules established from a risk point of view, and for the minimum total cost.
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