The innovative Small Modular Reactor (i-SMR) is a Light Water Reactor (LWR)-type SMR that aims to maximize safety and secure economic viability through the implementation of passive safety systems and design simplification. However, applying conventional deterministic safety classification frameworks developed for large active reactors, such as ANSI/ANS 51.1, leads to significant over-classification in the i-SMR. Structures, Systems, and Components (SSCs) with low actual risk are excessively classified as Safety-Related (SR), thereby severely deteriorating economic competitiveness. To address this, Technology-Inclusive, Risk-Informed, and Performance-Based (TI-RIPB) methodologies, such as NEI 18-04, have emerged as new regulatory standards. Nevertheless, because NEI 18-04 was primarily developed for Non-LWR Advanced Reactors (ARs), a tailored approach is required to apply its principles to the LWR-based i-SMR. Furthermore, during early licensing stages where the construction site is unspecified, fully applying the Mechanistic Source Term (MST) for evaluating radiological consequences on the Frequency-Consequence (F-C) target curve is fundamentally restricted. Therefore, this study proposes an integrated preliminary safety classification framework that adapts the Non-LWR-focused TI-RIPB methodology for the i-SMR while overcoming the site-unspecified limitations of the early design phase. Instead of relying on an MST, the proposed methodology utilizes a conservative Alternative Source Term (AST) and bounding site conditions to derive Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) insights. These are then integrated with deterministic requirements, such as Defense-in-Depth (DiD), to rationally categorize SSCs into SR, NSRST, and NST. To verify its practical validity, a pilot application was conducted on the major SSCs of the i-SMR. The results demonstrated that even under conservative AST-based evaluations, the proposed methodology satisfies required safety goals and reasonably reclassifies unnecessary SR components into NSRST, effectively mitigating the over-classification issue. This study provides a practical regulatory basis for the advanced licensing of LWR-type SMRs and contributes to achieving both safety and economic competitiveness for next-generation reactors.