Modular Reactors

[Stig]

This reads like a bit of an opinion piece to me, but take note of the author's background. I had wondered why we haven't seen any SMRs outside of a decades-old submarine:

https://reneweconomy.com.au/the-end-of- ... gy-alone//

I'm aware that this is likely preaching to the choir here but would be interested to hear what any industry insiders think.

[Countrypaul]

The link doesn't appear to work.

[Stig]

The link doesn't appear to work.

Oops, just edited it.

[Mart]

I really like the Youtube channel - Undecided with Matt Ferrell.

He recently did an article on SMR's. Now, whilst large nuclear simply isn't economically competitive anymore compared to RE (even when backed up with storage, interconnectors, overcapacity etc). But SMR's are the latest great hyped hope for nuclear.

I think his article is really good, as it's not negative, I think it's fair, and points out the potential benefits of SMR's (and the negatives), but it all really comes down to cost, and whether they will be much cheaper, or not. [I have my doubts.]

Might seem strange, a semi-positive article on nuclear, from "Moi", but good to keep an eye on all possible solutions, and if rejected, knowing that the idea wouldn't help/contribute to the race towards net zero.

[AE-NMidlands]

I get 404: page not found from that link.
... and now, having posted that, a youtube video appears!

[Swwils]

It's a shame that we need to even consider SMR as a protection against build times and/or cost overruns. The maths is very slim compared to conventional plant.

I'm confident they will arrive though.

SMR in vessels are a unique case as they have a "ultimate heat sink" e.g. a massive amount of ocean around them which massively simplifies design and operation.

Interestingly this is one of the factors highlighted in the three mile island incident, where the a decision process involved was an ex-nuclear submarine engineer and his base training was founded on the concept of having such a heat sink and it being immutable.

[Oliver90owner]

Thorium may be an alternative to Uranium/Plutonium fuelled nuclear reactors (see the recent chinese build/plans).

[nowty]

Thorium may be an alternative to Uranium/Plutonium fuelled nuclear reactors (see the recent chinese build/plans).

I think its too big a change in technology to what we are used to, and we are politically unlikely to follow China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-b ... lear_power

United Kingdom
In Britain, one organisation promoting or examining research on thorium-based nuclear plants is The Alvin Weinberg Foundation. House of Lords member Bryony Worthington is promoting thorium, calling it "the forgotten fuel" that could alter Britain's energy plans.[82] However, in 2010, the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) concluded that for the short to medium term, "...the thorium fuel cycle does not currently have a role to play," in that it is "technically immature, and would require a significant financial investment and risk without clear benefits," and concluded that the benefits have been "overstated."[23][34] Friends of the Earth UK considers research into it as "useful" as a fallback option.[83]

[Swwils]

They are doing regular reactor's for $2B / GW on the now good Westinghouse designs, the current regular fuel market is very little money really.

To put the fuel market / use into context 10 cubic meters of uranium oxide will be loaded into a new AP1000 and it will generate about 32 billion kWh of low-carbon electricity. Only 4% of the fuel is consumed and you would get 26x more energy if it was in a fast breeder.

It provides so much energy with so few resource inputs that anyone with even tangible links to those inputs it's actually
sees it as a disincentive. (You aren't going to get rich providing concrete for reactors, you will for wind turbines.)

Having the potential for a few grams of salt to displace 1000 tons of oil is attractive but...

SMR are going to driven by the finance structure more than anything else. Which is great since it's most often what goes wrong.

It's a fall forward more than a fall back.

[nowty]

I think I'm agreeing with you here Swwils, higher interest rates will drive the need for faster time to generate a revenue stream above doing the right thing strategically. So SMRs more likely that more HPC types.