Small Modular Reactors

Nuclear Power Fad or Future?

Daniel T Ingersoll

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780081002520
• eBook ISBN:
  9780081002681
• Topic: Technik & Maschinenbau
• Subtopic: Gesundheit & Sicherheit in der Industrie

There is currently significant interest in the development of small modular reactors (SMRs) for the generation of both electricity and process heat. SMRs offer potential benefits in terms of better affordability and enhanced safety, and can also be sited more flexibly than traditional nuclear plants. Small Modular Reactors: Nuclear Power Fad or Future? reviews SMR features, promises, and problems, also discussing what lies ahead for reactors of this type. The book is organized into three major parts with the first part focused on the role of energy, especially nuclear energy, for global development. It also provides a brief history of SMRs. The second major part presents basic nuclear power plant terminology and then discusses in depth the attributes of SMRs that distinguish them from traditional nuclear plants. The third and final major section discusses the current interest in SMRs from a customer's perspective and delineates several remaining hurdles that must be addressed to achieve wide-spread SMR deployment. - Provides decision-makers in governments, business, and research with the needed background on small nuclear power and an overview of the current situation - Presents a balanced discussion of the many advantages of SMRs and the challenges they face - Written by a highly respected expert in the nuclear industry

Part One

Setting the stage

Outline

1. Energy, nuclear power, and small modular reactors

2. A brief history of small nuclear power (1950–2000)

3. The rise of current small modular reactors (2000–2015)

1

Energy, nuclear power, and small modular reactors

Abstract

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) have jumped from near obscurity to industry prominence in just a few short years. Some claim that they are merely a fad while others tout them as the savior of the nuclear renaissance. This book attempts to sort out the fiction and the fact of SMRs with an emphasis on their primary features and anticipated benefits. Chapter 1 focuses on the global need for energy and the role of nuclear energy in helping to meet that need. Current challenges for expanding the use of nuclear energy are discussed, and the ability of SMRs to address those challenges is introduced.

Keywords

Climate change; Global energy needs; Human development; Nuclear energy; Nuclear renaissance; Small modular reactors

For those who are new to the topic of small modular reactors, or SMRs, as we like to call them, they are simply a different way to package nuclear energy to produce heat or electricity for commercial energy markets. They are neither new to the nuclear industry nor represent a whole new technology. In an analogy to the automotive industry, they represent a Smart Car in an industry that is dominated by Hummers. They are intended to offer an energy option to those customers for whom large nuclear plants are not a viable choice. Their design features are driven by the needs of those new customers, who generally require lower sticker prices, higher levels of plant resilience, and greater flexibility of siting and use. SMRs have gained considerable attention and have generated both a lot of excitement and a lot of confusion in the nuclear industry. The intent of this book is to offer my personal perspectives, derived from 15 years of immersion in the topic, on the basis for the excitement and clarification of the confusion. Most importantly, I hope to provide sufficient evidence and insight to answer the question at hand: Are SMRs just a market fad, or will they be an enduring part of the future of nuclear power?

1.1. Fad or future?

I have been engaged in research and development of advanced nuclear power for most of my career. During the past 15 years, I have focused almost entirely on SMRs. I have been so absorbed in the subject and so certain of their merit that it never occurred to me that SMRs might not ever reach the marketplace. I worked with the US Department of Energy from 2009 to 2012 to build a new program to encourage research, development, licensing, and deployment of SMRs, and we saw rapidly expanding interest for them from the nuclear community. We also saw unprecedented political support from the White House, from the Senate and House of Representatives, and from both the Republican and Democratic parties. The industry press and even the popular press were filled with optimistic articles on the exciting promises of SMRs. Sessions at industry conferences emerged that focused on SMRs, and entire conferences were dedicated to the subject. Even the tenacious antinuclear community levied only weak counterarguments centered mostly on the yet-to-be-demonstrated benefits of SMRs.

At the beginning of 2014, two prominent US SMR vendors made public declarations that they were significantly reducing their efforts to develop and license new SMR designs, ostensibly based on financial considerations and market uncertainties. Very quickly, articles began to surface stating that SMRs were just a fad and that they would soon be destined for deployment to history books. This notion was completely foreign to me and spurred me to ponder: Could SMRs be just a fad? Also, given where we are in their development, can we reliably predict if they are likely to fade away or become a permanent part of our energy future?

In addressing these questions, I find it useful to inspect previous fads and to look for common trends. The toy industry is a target-rich environment for studying fads. One example, Pet Rocks, barely survived a single holiday season in 1975. To be honest, I was immediately skeptical about the product’s longevity—after all, why would anyone pay several dollars for a common river rock? Cabbage Patch dolls survived a couple of years during the 1980s, but they too faded rather quickly into product history. Similarly, the initial popularity of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles peaked and then faded a few years later, although it appears that the hard-shelled warriors are making a comeback.

In contrast, other new products, although initially viewed as short-lived fads, have ended up changing the future of their market or even creating entirely new markets. Example: the iPad tablet. When introduced in 2010, the Apple iPad was quickly labeled as a fad, and its sales were attributed to the tenacity of Apple fanatics, who routinely stand in line for days to be one of the first purchasers of Apple’s latest gizmo. I happen to work with some of these fanatics and overheard one of them exclaim: “I didn’t even know that I needed it until I saw one.” A few short years later, tablet computers dominated the consumer electronics market and have had a profound impact on shaping the features of cell phones, laptop computers, and mainstream operating systems. Our seven-year-old grandson already has his own tablet and frequently instructs me on its use.

Why the difference, and how do we know what will be fad or future? From the simple examples above, I have to conclude that uniquely satisfying a consumer need is a key ingredient. The example of the iPad provides the most insight—the product addressed a consumer need that was not even fully appreciated until it was met. In the chapters that follow, I will attempt to walk through the “fad or future” question for the case of SMRs with an emphasis on highlighting their characteristics that address specific customer needs. I freely admit from the outset that I am a huge believer in nuclear power in general and SMRs in particular. So rather than try to disguise this bias, I will offer the basis for my enthusiasm. I will also appropriately temper my enthusiasm with a discussion of their limitations as well as the many hurdles they face to realize their promise.

The challenge in predicting the future of new products in the nuclear field is that advancements move at a glacial pace and can take decades to implement. Actually, even glaciers may be outpacing the nuclear industry now. On a recent Alaskan cruise, my wife and I were awed and alarmed by the fact that the glaciers at the ends of those majestic fjords have receded significant distances—miles in some cases—in just the past few years. I am not sure the nuclear industry can boast such a discernable rate of change. I would argue that it is this slow pace of progress that most contributes to the notion by some that SMRs are a fad. This happens because people are inherently impatient, an increasing trait in our world of instantaneous communications. Some people have been too quick to claim SMRs as a success, which creates a feeling of disillusionment as progress edges forward at a snail’s pace. Other people are too quick to predict their failure, which is sometimes a result of using the wrong metrics to judge success and failure. Referring back to the example of the iPad, there were those who discredited the iPad when it was first released because it was much bulkier than a cell phone yet was too limited in processor power to be a computer. Basically, the iPad was being judged by the same metrics to evaluate cell phones and desktop computers. The iPad has succeeded because it was not intended to be either a cell phone or a desktop computer—it offered something entirely new. This is a common trait of critics, that is, to focus on what a product cannot do, or does not do well, rather than to see the potential for what it can do. Unfortunately, the slow rate of development in the nuclear industry, which is measured in decades, allows for a much more protracted attack by critics on the value proposition of new developments such as SMRs.

Fad or future? It will take several more years to know for sure. Based on the success of the iPad, a more telling question might be: Do SMRs satisfy an important unmet need? A hint at the answer may be hidden in the global energy landscape, including trends in nuclear power as a part of the global energy mix. I start my story with a look at the need for energy.

1.2. The importance of energy

The reason for considering nuclear power, or any energy source, is quite simple: the availability of abundant, affordable energy is directly linked with quality of life. Multiple studies have shown a tight correlation between energy consumption and quality of life. A leading study conducted by Alan Pasternak at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory¹ demonstrated this correlation in a compelling way using the human development index (HDI), which is a complex, multifaceted metric ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Related titles
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part One. Setting the stage
• Part Two. Fundamentals and features
• Part Three. Promise to reality
• Index