Coates, Caron, and McCabe reported in 2022 that Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Advanced Nuclear Reactors (ANRs) are now shaping a new nuclear energy landscape, with designs no longer just targeting electricity generation. Vendors are exploring markets outside electricity supply, which exploit reactor features not offered by conventional large-scale nuclear power plants (CLNPP).
The authors examined potential off-grid market applications of SMRs and ARs that could provide more than just power to remote communities and mining projects in Canada, as well as to U.S. military operations. Argentina, China and the Russian Federation are on course to begin commissioning the world’s first SMRs, and more additional designs are advancing through licensing and construction. North America will likely be the next to deploy an SMR, as the U.S. is looking to 2026 for the start of operations while Canada pursues its progressive regulatory regime to start up demonstration reactors in the same year.
As SMR and AR deployments become commercial realities, potential off-grid markets are opening up off the back of reactor applications that go beyond
electricity supply. Russia’s KLT-40S pressurized water reactor (PWR) has been developed for deployment on a floating nuclear power plant. However, its
design also enables cogeneration of power and heat to remote, off-grid communities, power generation on oil rigs, as well as desalination. Likewise, China’s
ACP100 is designed for deployment in remote areas that have limited energy supply options or a lack of industrial infrastructure. Its applications also include desalination, cogeneration and district heating, as well as steam production.
[Be sure to read the three articles]
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