We consider a class of models with gauged U(1)_R symmetry in 4D N=1 supergravity that have, at the classical level, a metastable ground state, an infinitesimally small (tunable) positive cosmological constant and a TeV gravitino mass. We analyse if these properties are maintained under the addition of visible sector (MSSM-like) and hidden sector state(s), where the latter may be needed for quantum consistency. We then discuss the anomaly cancellation conditions in supergravity as derived by Freedman, Elvang and Kors and apply their results to the special case of a U(1)_R symmetry, in the presence of the Fayet-Iliopoulos term ($xi$) and Green-Schwarz mechanism(s). We investigate the relation of these anomaly cancellation conditions to the naive field theory approach in global SUSY, in which case U(1)_R cannot even be gauged. We show the two approaches give similar conditions. Their induced constraints at the phenomenological level, on the above models, remain strong even if one lifted the GUT-like conditions for the MSSM gauge couplings. In an anomaly-free model, a tunable, TeV-scale gravitino mass may remain possible provided that the U(1)_R charges of additional hidden sector fermions (constrained by the cubic anomaly alone) do not conflict with the related values of U(1)_R charges of their scalar superpartners, constrained by existence of a stable ground state. This issue may be bypassed by tuning instead the coefficients of the Kahler connection anomalies (b_K, b_{CK}).
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