US
Government Accountability Office pours cold water on
advanced reactor concepts SMNRs require additional
technical and engineering work to demonstrate reactor safety
and economics. These challenges may result in higher cost
reactors than anticipated, making them less competitive with
large light-water reactors. Nuclear Monitor,
September 9, 2015
The Forgotten History of Small Nuclear Reactors
Small nuclear reactors have historically suffered from poor
economics as well as technical problems. Without exception,
they have cost too much for the little electricity they have
produced. By M. V. Ramana, Princeton University, April 2015
(PDF)
Small
modular reactors: a chicken-and-egg situation A
review of their inability to gain traction. Nuclear
Monitor, March 19, 2015
Nuclear Power: A risky wager for the Pacific Northwest
Running an aging nuclear plant and building new, modular
ones is a gamble for Washington State. By Bruce Amundson and
Chuck Johnson, Crosscut, September 11, 2014
What went wrong with SMRs?
Something
happened on the way to the modular reactor promised land.
Over the past year, the SMR industry has been bumping up
against an uncomfortable and not-entirely-unpredictable
problem: It appears that no one actually wants to buy one.
By Thomas Overton, POWER Magazine, September 1, 2014
One size doesn’t fit all: Social priorities and technical
conflicts for small modular reactors Small modular reactors (SMRs) have been proposed as a
possible way to address the social problems confronting
nuclear power, including poor economics, the possibility of
catastrophic accidents, radioactive waste production, and
linkage to nuclear weapon proliferation. Several SMR
designs, with diverse technical characteristics, are being
developed around the world and are promoted as addressing
one or more of these problems. This paper examines the basic
features of different kinds of SMRs and shows why the
technical characteristics of SMRs do not allow them to solve
simultaneously all four of the problems identified with
nuclear power today. It shows that the leading SMR designs
under development involve choices and trade-offs between
desired features. Focusing on a single challenge, for
example cost reduction, might make other challenges more
acute. The paper then briefly discusses other cultural and
political factors that contribute to the widespread
enthusiasm for these reactors, despite technical and
historical reasons to doubt that the promises offered by SMR
technology advocates will be actually realized. By M.V.
Ramana and Zia Mian,
Energy Research and Social Science, May 24, 2014
Your choice: small reactors or carbon reductions. You can't
have both. A newly-released study asserts that large-scale development
of “small modular reactors” (SMRs) likely would cost $90
Billion – an amount that likely would be diverted from
development of much more cost- and climate-effective
renewable energy. May 15,
2014 The full report:
The economic failure of nuclear power and the development of
a low-carbon electricity future: Why small modular reactors
are part of the problem, not the solution By Mark
Cooper, Ph.D., Institute for Energy and the Environment,
Vermont Law School, May 2014
Why Nuclear Power Fails
Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on Economic
Trends, speaks at the Wermuth Asset Management 5th Annual
Investors Event regarding nuclear power and its fate in the
future of renewable energy, offering several reasons to
avoid nuclear investments, including:
*
Nuclear power can't be scaled up enough to have an impact on
climate change.
*
No solution has been found for the disposal of nuclear
waste.
*
Even with existing plants, there will be a uranium deficit
in the not-distant future.
*
Water to cool the power plants is in short supply - over 40%
of all fresh water used in France is used to cool nuclear
plants.
*
The centralized power-plant paradigm is outdated. The future
is bringing distributed generation.
Video (4 minutes), published October 8, 2013
Small Modular Reactors: No Solution for the Cost, Safety,
and Waste Problems of Nuclear Power Physicians
for Social Responsibility, September 2013 (PDF)
Small Isn't Always Beautiful Safety, Security,
and Cost Concerns about Small Modular Reactors.
By Edwin Lyman, Senior Scientist,
Union of Concerned Scientists, 2013 (PDF)
Does DOE’s Funding Announcement Mark the End of its
Irrational Exuberance for Small Nuclear Reactors?
By Edwin Lyman, Union of Concerned Scientists, November 21, 2012
Squandering
Money and
Resources Sierra Club fact sheet on small
modular reactors
“New” Nuclear Reactors: Same Old Story Why Small
Modular Reactors (and other newly-promoted concepts) will
not work. By Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute,
June 2009