Downsizing Nuclear Power Plants can Fuel Big Benefits (viva SMRs)

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Nuclear Power - Economics, Design, & Industry

Date posted: 03/28/16

From the Editorial page of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sama Lean opines that nuclear power is by far the largest source of emission-free energy and the only one that can produce large amounts of electricity around the clock. For decades, it has been the prime driver of clean energy in the U.S. She says that the U.S. needs to seize the opportunity to expand its use. About 100 nuclear plants supply nearly 20% of the U.S. electric power safely and reliably and has done so for more than 40 years, but the bulk of the U.S. power is produced at fossil-fueled plants that pollute the air and emit global-warming gases. Studies (by James Hansen, et al.,) show that air pollution from fossil-fuel burning causes thousands of premature deaths every year in the U.S. and more than 2 million deaths globally. Expanding the use of nuclear power can be a cost-effective approach to meeting the growing need for electricity without adding to the burden of atmospheric pollution. Today a new generation of small modular reactors, less than one-third the size of existing nuclear plants and similar to those that power nuclear submarines, is on the horizon. These microreactors (aka SMRs) are one potential tool to help improve public health, and head off climate change, etc. As many as 50 nuclear companies all over the world are developing innovative designs for these reactors. More affordable than a typical 1,000MW nuclear plant, small modular reactors range in size from 50 megawatts to 300MWs. To keep the cost of nuclear plant construction competitive with natural gas, small modular reactors are designed to be built in factories and then shipped by truck, train, or barge to nuclear sites. Solar and wind power also supply clean energy, but they take up hundreds of square miles of land to produce the same amount of electricity as a nuclear reactor. And they require backup power from fossil-fuel plants for use on days when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining.