Background Įconomic factors of scale mean that nuclear reactors tend to be large, to such an extent that size itself becomes a limiting factor. One concern with SMRs is preventing nuclear proliferation. US government studies to evaluate SMR-associated risks have slowed licensing. SMRs differ in terms of staffing, security and deployment time. The first unit of China’s pebble-bed modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor HTR-PM was connected to the grid in 2021. The floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov (operating in Pevek in Russia's Far East) is, as of October 2022, the first operating prototype in the world. Īs of 2023, there are more than eighty modular reactor designs under development in 19 countries, and the first SMR units are in operation in Russia and China. SMRs should also reduce staffing versus conventional nuclear reactors, and are claimed to have the ability to bypass financial and safety barriers that inhibit the construction of conventional reactors. The greater safety should come via the use of passive safety features that operate without human intervention, a concept already implemented in some conventional nuclear reactor types. Ideally, modular reactors will reduce on-site construction, increase containment efficiency, and are claimed to enhance safety. Some SMR designs, typically those using Generation IV technologies, aim to secure additional economic advantage through improvements in electrical generating efficiency from much higher temperature steam generation. Many SMR proposals rely on a manufacturing-centric model, requiring many deployments to secure economies of unit production large enough to achieve economic viability. SMRs are typically anticipated to have an electrical power output of less than 300 MW e (electric) or less than 1000 MW th (thermal). Both thermal-neutron reactors and fast-neutron reactors have been proposed, along with molten salt and gas cooled reactor models. Designs range from scaled down versions of existing designs to generation IV designs. The term SMR refers to the size, capacity and modular construction only, not to the reactor type and the nuclear process which is applied. Small modular reactors ( SMRs) are a proposed class of nuclear fission reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location (such as a factory), then shipped, commissioned, and operated at a separate site. In the event of any runaway reactor event, NuScale says, the reactor quenches itself in its pool, making it “passively safe.Illustration of a light water small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) The pool portion of the reactor building is located below grade.” Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) explains online: “The reactor vessel containment module is submerged in water in the reactor building safety related pool, which is also the ultimate heat sink for the reactor. “NuScale is a natural circulation light water reactor with the reactor core and helical coil steam generators located in a common reactor vessel in a cylindrical steel containment,” the U.S. And finally, the next wave of advanced reactors may involve fusion, embodied by ITER as well as much smaller tokamak and stellarator projects around the world. There’s an intermediate phase of new technology like molten salt. Most of the planned “advanced reactor” technology close to reality is like NuScale, in that it’s a new shape or application of an existing technology. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play small modular reactor design to be issued a FSER, NuScale is pioneering the way for additional innovative advanced nuclear technologies under development,” Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) new reactor director Marc Nichol said in a statement. ![]() NuScale’s design uses classic nuclear fission water reactor technology in a much smaller form factor, which contrasts with the escalating sizes of most current nuclear plant construction around the world. Nuclear startup NuScale has received a landmark final safety evaluation report (FSER) for its modular reactor design, making it the first American modular design to reach this point.
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