Cheap, with a low carbon footprint, but is it safe?
From the very beginning nuclear energy it promised cheap, stable and safe energy. While the financial and especially environmental costs of producing 1 kWh in nuclear power plant are definitely lower than in coal power plantsor even with Renewable energythat’s it security still leaves much to be desired. Two of them clearly demonstrated this disasters: Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Small modular reactors are coming into play
The revolution in nuclear energy is to be ensured by a new one SMR technology. Thanks to her, it’s small modular nuclear reactors They are supposed to be safer, cheaper and easier to install. However, for now, most of the projects have not gone beyond hype politicians’ declarations and laboratories of nuclear physicists. The situation may be changed by the ICT industry expanding its operations data centers and artificial intelligence.
Big Tech and artificial intelligence
Companies such as Google Whether Amazon recently announced that they intend to further develop their artificial intelligence projects while reducing carbon footprint. This will be achieved using advanced small nuclear reactors. Skeptics are currently questioning the success of these projects, primarily because so far in USA none have been built yet commercial SMR. So far, only the Chinese have managed to do it (Linglong One project) and twice to the Russians (the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power plant and the one currently under construction RITM-200N unit in Ust-Kujga in Yakutia).
Safety comes first
The Fukushima disaster in March 2011 changed the approach of many countries to nuclear energy. IN Germany it was decided to completely close all nuclear power plants. The last reactors disabled on April 15, 2023. Nuclear energy was to be replaced by clean, “green” and cheap energy energy from renewable sources. And already in the first day after the last nuclear power plant was shut down, it turned out that there was a power shortage in Germany. Coal and renewable energy power plants were unable to produce enough energy to meet national needs. In the emergency mode, the missing energy was purchased from France.
Unfulfilled promises of renewable energy
Initial delight with wind energy or photovoltaics collided with reality: renewable energy is not able to provide constant power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. The energy produced by renewable sources depends on the vagaries of the weather: on sunny days and with strong winds, there is more “green” energy in the system. At night or when there is no wind, the energy drop in the system is so great that support is needed conventional, coal or gas power plant.
What does the small modular reactor offer?
That’s why there are so many hopes for nuclear energy, especially modular reactor technology. First, it provides constant supply of cheap electricity. Secondly, nuclear power plants will easily adapt to the grid situation: when there is enough electricity from renewable energy sources, it will be possible to turn off some of the power. However, if shortages occur, they can be supplemented in a relatively short time with supplies from small modular reactors. Additionally SMRs still has it smaller carbon footprint them renewable energy.
The biggest problem of nuclear energy, apart from safety, was constantly exceeded construction time and costs. The situation with modular reactors is completely different. They are to be made of smaller elements manufactured in the factory, which are then assembled at the target location. This reduces the time and costs of their creation. The nuclear industry also touts their efficiency. It’s possible some of them will be as well use spent nuclear fuel in their larger counterparts. Which has an additional advantage, because spent uranium rods from classical nuclear power plants constitute a huge amount hazardous radioactive wastethe disposal of which is extremely complicated and expensive.
Who will build the first Western SMR?
The main problem with modular reactor technology is that no Western company has yet built such a reactor. NuScale (SMR), based in Oregon, became the first company to receive approval American Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the construction of SMR in 2022. But the next year, the company canceled plans to place six reactors in Idaho. It turned out that project costsscheduled for completion in 2030, increased from USD 5 billion to USD 9 billion.
AI is changing the rules
Another obstacle to the development of the technology was the lack of demand for SMRs. Artificial intelligence has changed this and growing demand for energy related to powering the data centers that power AI models, said X-energy CEO Clay Sell. Goldman Sachs estimates that advanced technology will contribute 160%. increasing energy demand in data centers by 2030.
Big Techs are investing in modular nuclear reactors
At the beginning of October Amazon announced that it will invest $500 million in the development of SMR. Part of this amount will go to the company X-energywhich will use it to complete the standard power plant project and build the first plant that will produce fuel used in modular nuclear power plantshe said, as quoted by Yahoo!Finance Sell, calling the investment a “breakthrough”.
“Artificial intelligence will be responsible for a significant portion of the increased electricity demand in the United States over the next 25 years,” Sell said. “It could be (an increase) as much as 10-20 percent.”
Google follows in Amazon’s footsteps
Kairos Power CEO Mike Laufer, who signed the purchase agreement with Googlesaid his company is still in the process of demonstrating technology without the use of nuclear energy. Any “cost certainty” will depend on a successful demonstration and the company’s ability to produce in-house, he said.
Another problem that experts point out is debt construction approval process by authorities and further storage of nuclear waste. Although reducing the footprint of SMRs means less waste, a study by Stanford University showed that small modular nuclear reactors will produce “2 to 30 times” more nuclear waste, Akiko Fujita of Yahoo!Finance reported in her article.
Advantages of small modular reactor technology
However, nuclear energy experts are optimistic about SMRs. According to Jacopo Buongiorno, professor of nuclear engineering at MIT, although the initial costs of their construction are very high, in the long run they turn out to be more economical. The approximate useful life of the reactors is estimated at 60 to 100 years, he added. With a smaller footprint, SMRs can also be built closer to data centers, minimizing infrastructure costs, he said. An additional advantage is the proximity of modular reactors and computing centers less energy loss related to the need to transmit it through the power grid.
The US government relies on SMRs
The Department of Energy says nuclear power is key to moving the country away from fossil fuels. The agency estimates that the United States will need about 700-900 GW of additional clean and stable generating capacity to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, adding that nuclear power already provides almost half of the country’s carbon-free electricity. The department has allocated $900 million to develop SMRs in the US.
