Nuclear SMRs
(Right) The world's first simulator control room at NuScale Power's SMR design facility in Oregon
Europe’s big plans for
small modular reactors
W
hen the new President of the European Commission invites a teenage climate activist to the launch of a proposed new law to cut carbon emissions, the debate about climate change is getting broader. When that activist dismisses the law that Ursula von der Leyen called the ‘heart of the European Green Deal’ as ‘empty words.... surrender’ and accuses the EU of only ‘pretending’ to be a leader on climate change, the debate is getting franker, too.
Filling the green power gap Until two years ago, these events would have been unthinkable – but global concern about climate change is rising fast. The need for a much more rapid switch to low-carbon technology is now extremely urgent. The significant and welcome growth of renewable energy, aided by the falling cost of solar and wind power, is set to continue. However, it is clear that for the world to have
any chance of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, significant additional nuclear capacity is also needed. This presents a huge opportunity for the nuclear industry. In much of Asia, the Middle East and countries around the borders of the EU such as Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UK, large nuclear plants are already under construction or in development. Within the EU, however, investment in new nuclear plants is mostly confined to east and central European member states.
Smaller is better A game-changer in this scenario may soon appear in the form of small modular reactors (SMRs). SMRs can be sited in more varied locations, away from large grid systems, and can bring power to remote or less developed areas, or those where demand is too low to justify bigger plants. They can also fit easily on redundant brownfield sites where coal-fired power stations may have previously operated and which are not large enough to host a 1GW nuclear reactor.
The lower initial capital investment requirement and shorter build time makes financing easier and opens up the chance of greater reliance on private funding. Construction cost savings may result from modular designs that enable manufacture to take place in controlled conditions on a factory assembly line – potentially also improving build quality and efficiency. A high level of passive and inherent safety features can be integral to the designs. The possibility of siting SMRs below ground level can reduce vulnerability to terrorist threats. Advanced reactors can not only generate electricity but also supply heat to homes, businesses and industrial processes. They can produce hydrogen – whose important future role in cutting emissions is becoming more widely recognised – as well as synthetic fuels to help the transport sector transition away from oil.
Floating innovation Rosatom’s pioneering work on floating reactors opens the possibility of SMR technology being deployed in a
IMAGES: ROLLS-ROYCE / NUSCALE POWER LLC / ROSATOM
Tim Yeo at the New Nuclear Watch Institute on putting SMRs on the map
40 energyfocus | www.the-eic.com
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