I have been blogging a lot lately about small modular nuclear power reactors (SMR). This is a new design concept in the nuclear industry. SMRs are defined as nuclear reactors that produce three hundred megawatts or less. One of the big selling points for these SMRs would be that they could be manufactured in factories and shipped in modules to their operational sites. Although factory production could take advances of economies of scale and standardization of components, any design problems would be incorporated into every reactor made during a particular production run. There are also big questions about whether SMRs would be cheaper per megawatt hour than the big conventional reactors. Several companies are working on SMR designs, some with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Energy. So far, the interest of investors and potential customers has been weak and some of the research has been scaled back.
One of the big political arguments around nuclear power has to do with the definition of "clean", "green", "sustainable" and "alternative" energy sources. With states passing laws about subsidies and mandates for low carbon alternatives to fossil fuels, the question of how nuclear power will be defined has arisen. Major players in the nuclear industry are lobbying the federal and state governments to define nuclear power as a low-carbon "alternative" energy source.
On March 19th of this year, the U.S. President issued an executive order that required federal government agencies to cut greenhouse emissions. The order calls for an increasing amount of energy consumed by federal agencies to come from low-carbon alternative energy sources. Starting in 2016 with ten percent mandated from alternative energy sources the percentage rises to twenty five percent by 2025. While the order does not allow generic nuclear power to be included in this program, the order does specifically include "small modular nuclear reactor technologies."
The Obama administration has been very supportive of efforts to build SMRs. The NuScale Power company in Oregon has received over two hundred million in funds from the U.S. DoE. This funding is helping the company prepare for official application in 2016 to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for certification of their design. That will begin a three year review process. If NuScale successfully completes the NRC licensing process, it may still be as much as a decade before SMRs could be available commercially. Due to lack of orders for their SMRs and lack of interest on the part of investors, NuScale and other SMRs design firms have had to scale back their research and development programs for the SMRs.
Nuclear technology companies are hoping that SMRs will revitalize the nuclear industry. While the concept of making nuclear reactors in a factory sound attractive, creating the factory and other infrastructure necessary to support a robust SMR industry will be an enormous investment in a new untested nuclear power reactor design. Without customer orders and investor support, even help from the U.S. President and the federal government may not be enough to launch an SMR industry.
