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Where are the promised small nuclear reactors?

For more than a decade, we’ve heard that small reactors could be part of the future of nuclear power. Because of their size, small modular reactors (SMRs) can solve some of the main challenges of traditional nuclear power, making power plants faster and cheaper to build and safer to operate.

We are probably now a little closer to this promised future. In January, NewSkill, an American company based in Oregon, achieved several milestones in the field of building modular reactors and received final approval from the US government for its reactor design. Other companies, including Kairos Power and GE Hitachi, are also pursuing commercial SMRs. However, NovaSkill is the first company to reach the licensing stage, clearing one of the final regulatory hurdles before companies can build their reactors in the US.

Small modular reactors like the one planned by Novaskill can provide power when and where needed in power plants with easy construction and management. This technology can replace power plants that run on fossil fuels such as coal, thereby helping to curb climate change.

But even though SMRs have promised to speed up the nuclear power plant construction program, the road to this point has been fraught with delays and cost overruns. The road ahead for Novaskill is still long and shows that there is still a lot of work to be done before this form of nuclear energy can be built quickly and efficiently.

Small modular reactor

NovaSkill generates electricity using a process similar to that used in today’s nuclear power plants: a reactor splits atoms in a pressurized core, releasing heat. This heat can be used to turn water into a heater that powers a turbine and produces electricity. The biggest difference is the size of the reactors.

Nuclear power plants have always been very large projects costing billions of dollars. For example, construction is currently underway to install two additional units at the current Vogtel plant in Georgia. Each of the two planned units will have a production capacity of more than a thousand megawatts, which is enough to supply electricity to more than one million homes. The reactors were supposed to be commissioned in 2017; But this has not happened yet and the total cost of the project has doubled to more than 30 billion dollars since the beginning of construction in the last decade.

In contrast, NovaSkill plans to build modular reactors that have a production capacity of less than 100 megawatts. When these modules are combined in power plants, their capacity reaches several hundred megawatts, which is even less than a single unit in the Vogtel power plant. With a generating capacity of a few hundred megawatts, equivalent to the average coal-fired power plant in the United States, SMR plants will power several hundred thousand homes.

Also, while the Vogtel power plant is located on a land of more than 1,200 hectares, the Novaskill Small Modular Reactor project will require approximately 26 hectares of land.

As companies standardize reactor designs, smaller nuclear power plants can be sold more easily and help keep costs down. These reactors may also be safer; Because the systems needed to keep them cool, as well as the systems needed to shut them down in an emergency, can be simpler.

Elimination of administrative formalities

The problem with all these potential benefits is that they remain largely potential so far. Pilot projects have started in some parts of the world. China was the first country to connect a small modular reactor to the grid in 2021. In January, GE Hitachi signed commercial contracts for a plant in Ontario that could be operational by the mid-2030s. Novaskil is also pursuing projects in Romania and Poland.

There are no small modular reactors operating in the US yet. This is due in part to the long-standing oversight process of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as an independent federal agency in this country.

Nuclear energy is the only energy source that has its own regulatory body in the United States. This increased oversight means that no detail is overlooked, and nuclear projects can take a long time to get up and running. Catherine Hough, assistant secretary in the US Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, sees nuclear programs as large and complex projects. The US Department of Energy helps fund SMR projects and supports research, but does not oversee nuclear regulations.

Novaskill began efforts to obtain a permit in 2008 and submitted its formal application to the NRC in 2016. In 2020, when receiving design approval for its reactor, NovaSkill said the oversight process cost half a billion dollars and the company provided the NRC with nearly two million pages of documents.


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