The ESFR SMART project, which took place from 2017 to 2022, made it possible to define a Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) design based on past SFR experimental feedbacks and intended to meet post-Fukushima safety criteria. The main options retained are recalled here: a heterogeneous core with low sodium void reactivity effect and mitigation measures (corium transfer tubes), a sodium-resistant pit well, a metallic thick slab, and finally comprehensive set of measures allowing decay heat removal by natural convection. These studies were carried out during this project with a power of 3600 MWth which was the power of the initial EFR project initiated during the operation of Superphenix. The new ESFR-SIMPLE project, starting at the end of 2022, uses the same technical options but with reduced power. This choice could more easily allow the construction of a SFR prototype in Europe. Design options were chosen so that the reactor could be assembled off-site, then shipped by rail or ship to the construction site, which requires a vessel diameter limit of around 10 m. The paper presents the first design studies with a particular attention to the core and primary circuit sizing. The proposed ESFR-SMR results in a 360 MWth reactor. This power reduction may also allow some simplifications compared to the initial high-power concept, particularly in terms of passive evacuation of residual power. This last point will be more deeply investigated by the ESFR-SIMPLE project in the next years.