Part 1 of 3 Parts

A small modular reactor (SMR) is defined as a nuclear reactor that produces up to a maximum of three hundred megawatts. That output is about a third, or a quarter, of the output of traditional large nuclear power reactors. These reactors are called modular because they will be factory-produced with many of the components being preassembled on a production line, and then final assembly taking place on-site. They will take up a lot less space than a traditional nuclear power plant. One SMR and associated building structures will take up about the same space as a football field.

Commercial SMRs have been designed to deliver an electrical power output as low as five megawatts of electricity and up to three hundred megawatts per module. SMRs may also be designed purely for desalinization or facility heating rather than to generate electricity. These SMRs are measured in megawatts thermal. Many SMR designs rely on a modular system which allows customers to simply add modules to achieve a desired electrical output.

SMRs were first designed mostly for military purposes in the 1950s to power ballistic missile submarines and ships (aircraft carriers, ice breakers, and power barges) with nuclear propulsion. There has been growing interest from technology corporations in using SMRs to power data centers.

Modular reactors are expected to reduce on-site construction costs and increase containment efficiency. These reactors are also expected to improve safety by using passive safety features that do not require human intervention. This is not specific to SMRs but rather a characteristic of most modern reactor designs. SMRs are also claimed to have lower power plant staffing costs, because their operation is fairly simple. They are claimed to have the ability to bypass financial and safety barriers that inhibit the construction of conventional reactors.

The go-ahead has been given to Ontario Power Generation to start building the first of four small modular reactors (SMR) at the Darlington New Nuclear Project site. This is Canada’s first SMR project with a total projected cost is fifteen billion dollars.

On the 8th of May, the Province of Ontario announced its final investment decision to give the green light to Ontario Power Generation (OPG) for construction of the first operating commercial SMR in any G7 country. The plan is to have four GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s BWRX-300 SMRs at the site. Each of these reactors will generate three hundred megawatts, enough to power about three hundred thousand homes.

The BWRX-300 SMR is a three hundred megawatt water-cooled, natural circulation reactor with passive safety systems that are based on the design and licensing basis of GE Vernova Hitachi’s fifteen-hundred-megawatt reactor traditional large-scale ESBWR boiling water reactor. The total cost of the four-SMR project is estimated to be fifteen billion dollars.

The first SMR is estimated to cost four billion three hundred million dollars. Additionally, a series of infrastructure and services will be needed to be developed for the site including such things as roads, sewers, bridges, ancillary buildings, fiber lines and tunnels for cooling water supplies. This infrastructure will eventually service all four SMRs. The estimated cost of this infrastructure is about one billion dollars. So, in total there is an estimated budget of about five and a half billion dollars for the first SMR and the shared or common infrastructure.

Ontario Power Generation

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