SMALL MODULAR REACTORS | POWER MARKET DEVELOPMENTS


introduced. How often must refuelling take place? Will this be done on site, or will the core be shipped to a central facility? If the factory-produced reactor module is returned to the supplier and the spent fuel conditioned there, will the supplier be able to arrange for disposal in their own country or in a multinational facility elsewhere? Today, the only country that has agreed to accept spent


fuel returned from reactors abroad is Russia. Some other potential SMR supplier countries have policies or laws that currently would prevent their accepting returned spent fuel. However, if the user of a nuclear reactor could be relieved of the responsibility for spent fuel disposal, then the incentive for new nuclear nations to opt for SMRs would be enormously increased.


Potential market demand The versatility of SMRs can eventually be a major driver for their widespread adoption. As with large nuclear plants, they can provide district heat as well as electricity. This could be particularly valuable for small SMRs in remote locations where fossil fuel is the only alternative source of baseload power. Some SMR designs can provide heat at higher temperatures than large LWRs and these may be used in specific industries, such as steelmaking, coal gasification, hydrogen production and petroleum refining. A further key application could be desalination. Powering any of these critical industrial activities with


an SMR, especially at a remote site, will present fewer challenges if a modular design is adopted based on a fabricated unit that can be returned to the factory. To realise this vision of distributed, localised implementation, they must be cost competitive and there must be enough sites with local acceptance. The countries most suited for SMRs are existing or new


nuclear power countries that: ● are persuaded by the passive safety features of the new SMR designs


● are attracted by the possibility to increase capacity in a stepwise approach that may ease funding requirements ● need to power off-grid communities.


SMRs may also be of particular interest to newcomer countries that: ● wish to start with a small nuclear energy programme ● cannot afford the upfront investment in a large reactor ● have a less robust or smaller national electricity grid.


Many countries have expressed public interest in implementation of SMRs. Some are potential suppliers; others are potential new users or have nuclear power programmes they are interested in expanding. The open question is whether this total market volume is sufficient in the relatively near future to fill the order book of even one production line for SMRs. Unless there is significant consolidation of the supplier


base, it will be problematic for any SMR developer to prepare for factory production. Supplier numbers will be reduced by the technical characteristics of the SMRs but also by the ability of the developers to secure government or private financing. Picking winners is a hazardous undertaking for those investors, but unavoidable if SMRs are to enter into service in time and in enough numbers to make a significant contribution to mitigating climate change.


The role of governments There are few different nuclear reactor designs in commercial operation today and all of them have received some form of governmental support to help them establish a market. The threshold for introducing a new design has been high, so that today most reactors in operation around the world have evolved from the early light water reactor designs used on submarine propulsion units. Will the situation be different for SMRs? There are positive indications that the governments in countries aiming to be a supplier of SMRs are willing to help. In Russia and China this is done by the government providing all the resources for the SMR designs. Western countries have also provided direct financial support, for example in the USA and the UK, but primarily for the research work needed for the first of a kind designs. The relatively low funding required by SMRs may make


it possible for all the initial funding to be provided by the private sector. There are numerous small start-up companies in USA, UK, Canada, Norway, Argentina etc. and several of these are attracting private investors. Their ability to secure financing may also depend on whether nuclear is included in the taxonomy of clean and sustainable energy sources.


Individual countries can take this decision for domestic


projects or projects sponsored abroad (this has been the case with Russia for example). But for global access to financial markets, the explicit recognition in multinational agreements of nuclear energy as sustainable is needed. In the European Union it has been a very controversial


issue because the taxonomy requires a ‘do no significant harm’ assessment on a lifecycle basis to qualify. Following an extensive positive report by the EU’s Joint Research Centre, the Commission of the European Union at the end of 2021 took the decision to include nuclear energy in the taxonomy, but this was in the face of continuing objections from a few Member States and it still has to be approved by the European Parliament. ■


Conclusions ● The most significant barriers to the widespread adoption of SMRs are:


Demonstrating that the designs being developed offer enhanced safety and that they can be built on time and with competitive capital costs per MW and production costs per kWh. Simplifying and harmonising the regulatory licensing process in both the vendors’ countries and potential user countries Narrowing down the field of potential suppliers enough to ensure sufficient market demand to allow factory production methods to be employed


● To overcome the barriers, it is necessary for governments, especially those of world leading economies to: recognise the role of nuclear energy in a just, reliable and clean energy transition support the acceleration, adoption and commercialisation of SMRs support the establishment of a harmonised international regulatory system, specifically for SMRs, led by the IAEA, as a first step towards the realisation of a robust and empowered international regulatory and safety regime.


● If all challenges are met, then SMRs can justifiably be put forward as a game changer for nuclear energy that may enhance public and political acceptance. ■


www.neimagazine.com | April 2022 | 23


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