Technology Roadmap for Small Modular Reactor Deployment

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• Publisher: International Atomic Energy Agency
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9789201102218
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Mechanical Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Technology roadmaps have proven to be a useful management tool for evaluating, planning and strategizing the development of complex technological projects. This publication is intended to provide Member States with a set of generic roadmaps which can be used in the deployment of small modular reactors. These roadmaps are based on the latest inputs from Member States currently pursuing this technology. The publication places emphasis on the activities of owners/operators who drive the demand and requirements for the reactor designs, the designers who develop the technologies, and the regulators who establish and maintain the regulatory requirements that owners/operators should meet. It also provides a methodology for developing a technology roadmap for reactors with longer development horizons and discusses emerging opportunities and challenges for this relatively new technology.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [1] with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goals 7, 9 and 13 are entitled Affordable and Clean Energy; Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; and Climate Action, respectively. In December 2015, during the 21st annual session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Paris, 195 countries agreed on a historic and first-ever legally binding global climate agreement establishing an action plan to limit global warming to well below 2°C [2]. To achieve these goals, a worldwide change in the way energy is both produced and consumed is required. Moreover, a wide range of low carbon energy technologies will be needed to support this transition, including a variety of renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency measures, advanced vehicles, carbon capture and storage, and nuclear energy. The Paris Agreement offers an incentive for nuclear power development because every signatory has to update its Nationally Determined Contribution every five years.

According to the IAEA’s Power Reactor Information System (PRIS), as of July 2021 there were 443 nuclear power reactors in operation in 32 IAEA Member States, contributing 393 241 MW(e) total net installed capacity. Furthermore, 51 nuclear power reactors were under various stages of construction in 19 Member States which will in due course contribute 53 905 MW(e) total net installed capacity. These power reactors can trace their lineage back to small prototype or demonstration reactors. The earlier generation designs generally ranged from less than 100 MW(e) to as large as 300 MW(e), and a small number of these facilities continue to be safely operated today. These designs were part of many efforts around the world to experiment with different cooling technologies, fuel types and operating configurations. Although not designed at the time for modular fabrication or construction, these early plants shared many of the same considerations for modern day small modular reactor (SMR)1 technologies in that vision and careful planning were needed to develop and successfully deploy them. Preferential technologies that emerged from these early commercial efforts are based on the following:

— The expected effort required to obtain technology maturity for use in commercial facilities;

— The ability to resolve technical uncertainties in a timely manner (e.g. material degradation challenges, chemistry);

— Political considerations such as nationalization of supply chains where possible, preferences for reactor brands, access to technology user groups to share and learn from operating experience.

Water cooled reactors (WCRs) were the dominant technology to emerge, although considerable efforts in other coolant technologies continued over the decades, recognizing that significant advantages could be gained in operating performance if outstanding technological issues could be resolved.

Over time, economies of scale, based on maximizing megawatts against operating and maintenance (O&M) costs, drove nuclear power reactor technology developers to produce ever larger designs, leading to designs today with power levels of up to 1700 MW(e). An interest in reducing plant O&M costs while improving safety performance led to the development of passive safety features that are adopted in today’s advanced evolutionary reactor designs (also known as Generation III and III+ reactors). However, these advanced reactor designs are now pushing the technological envelope and little can be done to make them more efficient.

The development of innovative reactor designs and technologies (also known as Generation IV reactors), to establish a step change in efficiency as well as in safety performance over existing water cooled technologies, continues. New fuels, reactor configurations and materials push thermal efficiency higher while reducing the number of systems necessary to run the plant safely.

However, the market for large capacity power plants is limited to countries with a grid capacity capable of accepting them. The grid demand of such a country should also be growing to the extent that plants of this capacity would be necessary (e.g. replacement of old plants or addition of new generation plants). At the same time, recognizing the need for political support for nuclear power, a utility and its stakeholders should select a technology that they know with certainty can be constructed and operated more cost effectively, safely and efficiently than existing plants.

Of the more than 50 new plants currently under construction in 19 countries, all are based on water cooled technologies, except two nuclear power reactors. One is in China, a high temperature gas cooled reactor, and one is in India, a sodium cooled fast reactor. Most of the power reactors under construction are in countries with well developed grids. However, after 2010, countries embarking on nuclear power programmes, including Bangladesh, Belarus, Turkey and United Arab Emirates, started construction projects for large nuclear power reactors with advanced technology. In addition to the issues of reliability and cost competitiveness, there is also the issue of political risk, with nuclear projects becoming topics of political and/or public controversy, and consequently lengthening licensing procedures, the risk of governments imposing nuclear phase out, etc.

Limitations of grid capacity2 and slow growth in power demand are leading factors in exploring whether smaller, more incremental, nuclear power technologies can be used either instead of new large nuclear power plants, or to supplement existing installed capacity. In addition, with the growing use of intermittent renewable capacity such as solar, wind, small hydroelectric and tidal generation, there are advantages to introducing small baseload nuclear plants with enhanced load following capabilities to stabilize the supply to the grid. A large number of nuclear technology developers have recognized this gap in the market and are responding with smaller reactor facility concepts that promise to meet the long term needs o...

Table of contents

• 1. INTRODUCTION
• REFERENCES
• Annex REVIEW OF SMR DESIGNS IN OPERATION OR UNDER CONSTRUCTION
• ABBREVIATIONS
• CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW