The involvement of these new investors indicates a profound shift taking place from government-led and -funded nuclear R&D to that led by the private sector and people with strong entrepreneurial goals, often linked to a social purpose.
SMR development is proceeding in Western countries with a lot of private investment, including small companies. In the USA coal-fired units retired over 2010-12 averaged 97 MWe, and those expected to retire over 2015-25 average 145 MWe. Small units are seen as a much more manageable investment than big ones whose cost often rivals the capitalization of the utilities concerned.Īn additional reason for interest in SMRs is that they can more readily slot into brownfield sites in place of decommissioned coal-fired plants, the units of which are seldom very large – more than 90% are under 500 MWe, and some are under 50 MWe. There are also moves to develop independent small units for remote sites.
Economies of scale are envisaged due to the numbers produced. These may be built independently or as modules in a larger complex, with capacity added incrementally as required (see section below on Modular construction using small reactor units). Today, due partly to the high capital cost of large power reactors generating electricity via the steam cycle and partly to the need to service small electricity grids under about 4 GWe, b there is a move to develop smaller units. The first has the lowest technological risk, but the second (FNR) can be smaller, simpler and with longer operation before refuelling. Some MSRs are fast-spectrum. Four main options are being pursued: light water reactors, fast neutron reactors, graphite-moderated high temperature reactors and various kinds of molten salt reactors (MSRs). Some of the designs described here are not yet actually taking shape, others are operating or under construction. This information page focuses on advanced designs in the small category, i.e. those now being built for the first time or still on the drawing board, and some larger ones which are outside the mainstream categories dealt with in the Advanced Nuclear Power Reactors page. Hence many larger PWRs such as the Rolls-Royce UK SMR have external steam generators. PWR types may have integral steam generators, in which case the reactor pressure vessel needs to be larger, limiting portability from factory to site. Some of the already-operating small reactors mentioned or tabulated below do not fit this definition, but most of those described do fit it. This definition, from the World Nuclear Association, is closely based on those from the IAEA and the US Nuclear Energy Institute.
#FACTORIO NUCLEAR REACTOR SERIES#
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are defined as nuclear reactors generally 300 MWe equivalent or less, designed with modular technology using module factory fabrication, pursuing economies of series production and short construction times. (In this information page the use of diverse pre-fabricated modules to expedite the construction of a single large reactor is not relevant.) A subcategory of very small reactors – vSMRs – is proposed for units under about 15 MWe, especially for remote communities.
#FACTORIO NUCLEAR REACTOR SERIAL#
However, 'SMR' is used more commonly as an acronym for 'small modular reactor', designed for serial construction and collectively to comprise a large nuclear power plant. Together they have been referred to by the IAEA as small and medium reactors (SMRs).
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) defines 'small' as under 300 MWe, and up to about 700 MWe as 'medium' – including many operational units from the 20th century. At the same time there have been many hundreds of smaller power reactors built for naval use (up to 190 MW thermal) and as neutron sources a, yielding enormous expertize in the engineering of small power units. The technologies involved are numerous and very diverse.Īs nuclear power generation has become established since the 1950s, the size of reactor units has grown from 60 MWe to more than 1600 MWe, with corresponding economies of scale in operation.This interest in small and medium nuclear power reactors is driven both by a desire to reduce the impact of capital costs and to provide power away from large grid systems.There is strong interest in small and simpler units for generating electricity from nuclear power, and for process heat.
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