This reduces startup costs associated with conventional designs. Once the first unit of a given design is licensed, licensing subsequent units should be drastically simpler, assuming that all units operate identically.Ī future power station using SMRs can begin with a single module and expand by adding modules as demand grows. The operation of the first commercial land-based, 125 MW e demonstration reactor ACP100 (Linglong One) is due to start in China by the end of 2026. This concept is based on the design of nuclear icebreakers. In May 2020, the first prototype of a floating nuclear power plant with two 30 MW e reactors - the type KLT-40 - started operation in Pevek, Russia. Until 2020, no truly modular SMRs had been built. SMRs require new designs with new technology, the safety of which has yet to be proven. Critics say that more small reactors pose a higher risk, requiring more transportation of nuclear fuel and increased generation of waste. Proponents say that nuclear energy with proven technology is safe the nuclear industry contends that smaller size will make SMRs even safer than conventional plants. A high market share is needed to obtain sufficient orders. Critics say that modular building will only be cost-effective at high quantities of the same types, given the still remaining high costs for each SMR. Limited information about SMR modules transportation has been published. Several studies suggest that the overall costs of SMRs are comparable with those of conventional large reactors. SMRs do, however, also have some economic disadvantages. Proponents claim that SMRs are less expensive due to the use of standardized modules that can be produced off-site. The generic SMR proposal is to swap the economies of unit scale for the economies of unit mass production. Despite the loss of scale advantages and considerably less power output, funding was expected to be easier thanks to the introduction of modular construction and projects with expected shorter timescales. In response, a new strategy was introduced aiming at building smaller reactors, which are faster to realize, safer, and at lower cost for a single reactor. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster caused a major set-back for the nuclear industry, with worldwide suspension of development, cutting down of funding, and closure of reactor plants. Background Įconomic factors of scale mean that nuclear reactors tend to be large, to such an extent that size itself becomes a limiting factor. One concern with SMRs is preventing nuclear proliferation. US government studies to evaluate SMR-associated risks have slowed licensing. SMRs differ in terms of staffing, security and deployment time. The first unit of China’s pebble-bed modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor HTR-PM was connected to the grid in 2021. The floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov (operating in Pevek in Russia's Far East) is, as of October 2022, the first operating prototype in the world. Īs of 2023, there are more than eighty modular reactor designs under development in 19 countries, and the first SMR units are in operation in Russia and China. SMRs should also reduce staffing versus conventional nuclear reactors, and are claimed to have the ability to bypass financial and safety barriers that inhibit the construction of conventional reactors. The greater safety should come via the use of passive safety features that operate without human intervention, a concept already implemented in some conventional nuclear reactor types. Ideally, modular reactors will reduce on-site construction, increase containment efficiency, and are claimed to enhance safety. Some SMR designs, typically those using Generation IV technologies, aim to secure additional economic advantage through improvements in electrical generating efficiency from much higher temperature steam generation. Many SMR proposals rely on a manufacturing-centric model, requiring many deployments to secure economies of unit production large enough to achieve economic viability. SMRs are typically anticipated to have an electrical power output of less than 300 MW e (electric) or less than 1000 MW th (thermal). Both thermal-neutron reactors and fast-neutron reactors have been proposed, along with molten salt and gas cooled reactor models. Designs range from scaled down versions of existing designs to generation IV designs. The term SMR refers to the size, capacity and modular construction only, not to the reactor type and the nuclear process which is applied. Small modular reactors ( SMRs) are a proposed class of nuclear fission reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location (such as a factory), then shipped, commissioned, and operated at a separate site. Illustration of a light water small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) Small nuclear reactors that can be manufactured off-site and transported
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