Although SMR technology has been in development for decades, momentum is building due in large part to government support and the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which will provide tax credits of up to 30% on investments.
With government funding, several American firms are developing a new generation of tiny reactors that might usher nuclear energy into a new era.
US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm recently emphasised the present administration’s “importance of nuclear energy” in terms of America’s power supply during a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee.
Despite the Biden administration’s declared support for nuclear power, no new projects for classical nuclear reactors are under ongoing.
In fact, the country’s 93 surviving legacy reactors, which generate approximately 18% of its electricity, are rapidly ageing; six reactors have already been decommissioned since 2017.
The industry’s future will most likely rely on small modular reactors (SMRs), similar to those already powering submarines.
SMRs have been advertised as a less expensive alternative to legacy reactors, with shorter construction times and less fuel required to power them, resulting in less nuclear waste.
“I’ve spoken to many utility CEOs, and many of them simply stated that they plan to build SMRs, not large reactors,” says William Freebairn, Senior Managing Editor at S&P Global.
Many SMRs will replace coal plants in remote locations where “the ability to place a really large unit is very limited,” he added.
Although SMR technology has been in development for decades, momentum is building due in large part to government support and the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which will provide tax credits of up to 30% on investments.
Several companies in the United States are currently developing their own SMR or AMR (Advanced Modular Reactor) designs.
However, only one, from NuScale in Portland, has been fully certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Approval came six years after the corporation filed its application, in January of this year.
“Other countries around the world that are interested in this technology really watch what’s happening in the United States very carefully, and they kind of follow suit in terms of what’s been approved by the NRC,” said Bahram Nassersharif, Nuclear Engineering Programme Director at the University of Rhode Island.
“That’s kind of the stamp of approval that they accept,” he explained.
NuScale had hoped to have its experimental six-module facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho, fully operational by 2026, but delays have already pushed the timetable back to 2030.
According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), 28 percent of America’s coal-fired electric-generating capacity will be retired by 2035.
US designs are also seeing increased competition abroad; 70 to 80 SMR designs have already developed in nations such as South Korea, France, and Russia.
Although it is currently leading the pack, NuScale’s costs are rising. The planned expenditure for its Idaho facility is $9.3 billion, up 75% from early estimates. Almost half of this money will come from government subsidies.
Ten of the 36 public utilities that had agreed to assist build the plant have backed out.
“We are aggressively pursuing not only new participants, but also working to incentivize current participants to increase their subscription levels,” says Stephen Handy, spokesman for Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems.
‘Much safer’
“The first project is always the hardest,” said Chris Levesque, president and CEO of TerraPower, a Bill Gates-backed business set to break ground next month on its first reactor, Natrium, in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
Natrium will be built at a local power plant that is planned to close in 2028.
“There’s the design, which you don’t have to pay for more than once, the licencing with the safety authority, and then the learning curve, just building it for the first time,” said Levesque.
Unlike the NuScale prototype, which uses pressurised water like conventional reactors, Natrium depends on “molten salt technology,” which poses no risk of explosion and does not require a traditional massive concrete containment structure.
Another American firm, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), plans to open its Champagne, Illinois, reactor as early as 2027. It has adopted a regulatory method in the intention of certifying the various components of its installation throughout construction.
USNC’s model, like other SMRs, incorporates standardised parts, which would drastically cut costs and build times, according to Daniel Stout, the Seattle company’s nuclear manager.
According to a 2022 Gallup poll, Americans remain divided on the use of nuclear energy, while the ratio of those opposed has decreased from 54 percent in 2016 to 47 percent in 2022.
SMR proponents assert that their reactors are safer than conventional ones. Some contend that the new technology protects them from catastrophic events like the 2011 nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, because it is less likely to cause irradiation and contamination.
The onus is on us to demonstrate to the independent regulators that we do not require extensive evacuation preparations, that our technology is that safe, and that unnecessary evacuation plans are not warranted because our design forbids mishaps that would necessitate evacuation, according to Stout.
Nassersharif stated that both the major accidents and the little ones taught us a lot. He said that the majority of the lessons learned had been applied to the new designs.
