Nuclear power can be a touchy subject, one that seems to divide opinion. Many people believe it is unclean, controversial and costly and the2011 Fukushima disaster showed the world just how unsafe nuclear can be; the meltdown of the power plant was the worst nuclear disaster sinceChernobyl in Ukraine, 25 years earlier. On the other hand westill need nuclear power. It has decreased the UKs dependence on fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil, which are in limited supply. And nuclear is a much more reliable energy source for the same amount of fuel, nuclear produces much more energy than its carbonbased counterparts. And, as well as being cost effective, it also produces little waste. The chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, now wants the UK to be a global leader in innovative nuclear technologies. Part of this plan involvesspending 250m on a research and development programme to put the UK in with a chance of 'winning the race to developsmall modular reactors (SMR). In the recent Budget, Osborne launched acompetition for the best value design of small modular reactors for use in the UK. The government has also said it plans to publish a small modular reactor delivery roadmap later this year and will allocate at least 30m for anadvanced manufacturing programme to develop nuclear skills. All of which will pave the way towardsbuilding one of the worlds first small modular reactors in the UK in the 2020s. Given the amount of investment, its clear SMRs are big business for government and for good reason: experts suggest that small nuclear reactors may bethe key to a low-carbon future. What Are Small Modular Reactors? Small modular reactors are essentially scaled down versions of full-sized nuclear reactors. They are defined by theInternational Atomic Energy Agency as having a power output of up to 300MW which is enough to power around 428,000 700-watt washing machines. This compares to a full sized nuclear power reactor which boast around 1,000MW more than three times as much. Each person in the UKuses an average of 226 Watts throughout the year, and atypical SMR can theoretically produce enough power for roughly 1m people using 226 Watts. Compare this to thelargest commercially available wind turbine installed in Denmark which usually runs at 26 and 702022020PHWR'>India andChina. There are also numerous other SMRs in various states of completion too, from the35 MWe KLT-40s which is under construction in Russia, to theMolten salt-based reactor still in the design stage in the UK. The governments SMR competition is a great step forward in taking things closer to development. Once funding has been allocated to a preferred design then theres just a small
1/2
matter of building one. So while the use of SMRs may be one step closer, it is still going to be some time before these smaller nuclear reactors are in widespread use across the UK.
Stephen Monk, Lecturer,Lancaster University Read more:http://www.iflscience.com/technology/everything-you-need-know-about-mini-nuclearreactors Everything You Need To Know About Mini Nuclear Reactors
2/2 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)