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Delivering Nuclear Energy
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Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) define a type of nuclear reactor that are typically less than 300 MWe in capacity and utilize the advantages of modular design in their manufacturing and deployment. SMRs can be produced in a factory setting and transported to the site where they will be used, accelerating delivery and installation while taking advantage of economies of scale.
Nuclear power plants incorporating SMRs can be designed smaller, and more cost-effective compared to conventional large-scale nuclear power plants. The smaller design and modular configuration makes them easier to deploy, especially in remote locations while reducing construction costs compared to traditional nuclear power plants.
Ranging from 10 MWe to 300 MWe, SMRs are significantly smaller than large conventional reactors offering greater flexibility in placement and application. Smaller sized reactors also offer advantages with easier delivery, faster construction, greater site selection and speed of installation.
Modular design offers advantages by achieving economies of scale through repetitive standardized production. Plant modules are able to be placed on a truck and delivered with many components pre-assembled. This vastly reduces construction demands and installation time.
Fabrication equipment and talent located at a specific manufacturing facility can reduce costs of a total operation compared to relocating talent and equipment for fabrication at every build site. Less onsite infrastructure is required for construction and deployment of SMRs compared to large conventional plants.
Reducing costs increases accessibility and offers competitive advantages in the marketplace. Lower prices opens up opportunities for involvement to larger markets, as more customers can afford to finance SMRs who would otherwise be priced out of the financial requirements associated with larger conventional plants.
Units can be installed in parallel as needed in more precise capacity increments. Instead of starting at the first increment in the 1 GWe range, much smaller capacity installations are available for a wider selection of customers with different needs. More units can be built out as needed for more precise site specific delivery, scaling accordingly.
Smaller units operating in parallel allow for staggered refueling and maintenance scheduling, reducing the need for full shutdown service interruptions. Large conventional plants often need to shut down the entire reactor for refueling and maintenance, effectively dropping power output to zero. SMRs can be refueled and inspected one at a time continuing partial output from a single site hosting multiple operational SMRs. The smaller design also allows faster turnaround time for refueling and maintenance, reducing down time.
Modularity enables rapid delivery and installation, offering faster construction times. A rapid turnaround time is also advantageous from the financial and industrial perspective, securing revenue and productivity with faster returns. Many of the plant components come preassembled from offsite operations, this production method greatly reduces the risk of construction delays caused by sequence related bottlenecks.
SMRs can be placed in remote areas, industrial parks or even maritime vessels. Unlike large conventional plants that require massive footprints, SMR plants offer greater flexibility and compatibility with a larger selection of possible locations. Smaller builds also enable greater flexibility in local infrastructure requirements.
Smaller reactors are capable of responding faster to changes in required outputs. Under the specific conditions where varying output is required, SMRs tend to be better equipped to load follow compared to conventional reactors. It is rather uncommon for a nuclear plant to load follow as the best strategy is almost always providing a stable output of maximum power to satisfy baseload requirements of the grid. However in some specific circumstances where the grid or demand is already maxed out and ramping of a nuclear asset is required, SMRs can adapt to serve this function.
SMRs are an important technology that can help to address the global energy challenge by providing a reliable, sustainable, and low-carbon source of energy. Designed with efficiency in mind, SMRs play into a larger industrial strategy to improve delivery methods, reduce costs and increase economic accessibility to nuclear power.
The smaller size of SMRs allows their use in providing power to smaller communities and remote locations which are often dependent on frequent high cost fossil fuel deliveries. A diesel or gas plant powered microgrid could require a costly refuel every week, while an SMR could go multiple years between refueling. Their compact design also permits local use in industrial operations providing reliable onsite heat and electricity to industrial clientele. The onsite positioning keeps the power source reliable even if the grid is prone to disruptions, which improves energy security and reduces dependence on vulnerable fossil fuel supply chains.
SMRs can play a key role in addressing the global energy challenge regarding climate change, as they can provide a reliable source of clean energy displacing polluting sources of energy production. Since SMRs provide dispatchable energy 24/7 during routine operation, they can replace the need for fossil fuel powered generation assets, ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear energy currently provides over 10% of the world's electricity and this figure can significantly increase by scaling nuclear energy through the deployment of SMRs.
SMRs have the potential to support the development of new technologies and industries, such as small-scale hydrogen production and desalination. They can also be used to provide process heat for industrial applications, such as material processing and to support the development of advanced manufacturing methods.
The US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy published a report in 2021 titled “Advantages and Challenges of Nuclear energy. In the report, SMRs were presented as a solution to many of the major obstacles that have historically hindered nuclear development and emphasized their support for the development of SMRs for the reasons stated.
“DOE is also supporting the development of smaller reactor designs, such as microreactors and small modular reactors, that will offer even more flexibility in size and power capacity to the customer. These factory-built systems are expected to dramatically reduce construction timelines and will make nuclear more affordable to build and operate.” (US DOE, Office of Nuclear Energy)
The DOE understands the importance of SMRs and how they will be crucial for the continuing development of the nuclear energy sector. Within the SMR development space there are different approaches being considered and tested. Boiling Water Reactors, Pressure Water Reactors, High Temperature gas cooled reactors and even Fast Breeder SMRs have been proposed.
Last Energy has incorporated and built upon many advantages of SMRs into the PWR-20 design.
The PWR-20 provides 20MWe per unit. It’s size enables more flexibility with customer needs and ease of scaling. The compact size of the PWR-20 system offers greater flexibility with positioning, infrastructure requirements and site selection. Modules can be delivered and assembled with standard equipment. The entire site would occupy the footprint of a typical soccer field.
Each PWR-20 unit operates as its own fully functional power station. The cooling, control and generation systems installed with each reactor are dedicated to that reactor unit. This configuration remains consistent even when multiple units are installed on the same site. So any refueling or maintenance that occurs with one will not impact the routine operations of the others. Every PWR-20 could power up to 20,000 homes or provide heat and electricity for local industrial applications.
Last energy takes the advantages of modularity by utilizing off-the-shelf parts for most components. Off-the shelf parts reduce costs while enabling supply chain flexibility in acquisitions and replacements. Unlike custom made-to-order parts, off-the-shelf parts can be quickly re-ordered or replaced by alternate vendors in the event of specific upstream supply chain delays.
Prefabricated modules of the PWR-20 offer advantages with rapid installation as most of the work and testing has already occurred off site. After proper site preparation is complete, a plant can arrive in a series of shipping container sized modules, maneuvered into place with a standard crane and fitted together by general contractors. Rapid turnaround from order to operation keeps costs down and maintains a competitive advantage in the energy sector.
Building up an entirely new supply chain for lots of custom parts can be a massive endeavor with many points of failure that can cause delays. Last Energy utilizes pre-existing supply chains providing off-the-shelf parts in order to furnish the vast majority of components and services. This greatly reduces the time and resources required for the startup phase of development in addition to reducing the delivery time for every build order.
The PWR-20 utilizes standard nuclear fuel, which has a long operational history and well established supply chain. Using standard fuel avoids the costs associated with setting up entirely new production lines and supply chains for custom fuel types required by other SMR designs. The standard fuel design choice also allows for flexibility in procurement if there are delays with a particular vendor or supplier. Standard fuel has established familiarity within the industry.
Most nuclear power plants are limited in their placement options by access to abundant water for cooling. This is why so many large thermal plants are located next to rivers or large bodies of water. A notable exception being Palo Verde which utilizes local municipal wastewater.
The PWR-20 system from Last Energy is air cooled, improving the siting ability by avoiding the need to be adjacent to water.
With extreme weather events and other unplanned disruptions to grid infrastructure, there has been a growing appreciation for the value of distributed generation assets. Since every PWR-20 unit is a stand alone plant, they can be distributed across geographical areas in ways which do not bottleneck electrical grid connections into vulnerable points of failure. Specific customers can take advantage of local energy production by hosting the PWR-20 sites directly within their premises for reliable continuity of service if major grid disruptions occur further out from the coverage area. Additionally, policy makers and infrastructure developers can fortify an electric grid by distributing PWR-20 systems where they are needed geographically and scale additional installations accordingly.
The PWR-20 plants can scale as needed within the footprints available. Multiple plants can be installed at a single site and across multiple sites. The standard repeatable design offers the advantages of economies of scale. As continued production and increased serialized output improves overall efficiency and cost as procedural methods are improved upon.
US DOE, Office of Nuclear Energy. (2021, March 29). Advantages and Challenges of Nuclear Energy. Department of Energy. Retrieved February 7, 2023, from https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/advantages-and-challenges-nuclear-energy
