SMRs Not!
A very detailed assessment of the reasons why SMRs – small modular reactors – are not a feasible choice.
Quote:
<< Small modular reactors won’t achieve economies of manufacturing scale, won’t be faster to construct, forego efficiency of vertical scaling, won’t be cheaper, aren’t suitable for remote or brownfield coal sites, still face very large security costs, will still be costly and slow to decommission, and still require liability insurance caps. They don’t solve any of the problems that they purport to while intentionally choosing to be less efficient than they could be. They’ve existed since the 1950s and they aren’t any better now than they were then.
Most of the attention and funding is misguided at best, and actively hostile to climate action at worst
>>
Author goes on to explain the following:
<< Advocates for SMRs typically make some subset of the following claims:
- They are safer
- They can be manufactured in scaled, centralized manufacturing facilities so they will be cheaper
- They can provide clean power for remote facilities or communities
- They can be deployed onto decommissioned coal generation brownfield sites
- They can be built faster
None of these are actually good arguments. >>
https://illuminem.com/energyvoices/c1f245f8-d201-498e-9e85-8592095ae2ac
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Cleantechnica article with public opinion surveys about nuclear power including public opinion believes renewable energy is better.
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/03/15/public-fear-of-nuclear-isnt-why-nuclear-energy-is-fading/
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NRC fact sheet on nuclear power plant insurance liability caps
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/nuclear-insurance.html
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Public fear of nuclear power is not why nuclear energy is fading.
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/03/15/public-fear-of-nuclear-isnt-why-nuclear-energy-is-fading/