Publication Laka-library:
Prospects for Small Modular Reactors in the UK & Worldwide

AuthorS.Thomas, P.Dorfman, S.Morris, Ramana
6-01-3-60-08.pdf
DateJuly 2019
Classification 6.01.3.60/08 (NUCLEAR SAFETY - REACTORS - OTHER TYPES, SMALL MODULAR REACTORS)
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From the publication:

Prospects for Small Modular Reactors in the UK & Worldwide
STEVE THOMAS, PAUL DORFMAN, SEAN MORRIS & M.V. RAMANA
JULY 2019

Executive Summary
Over the past few years in the UK, and in a number of other countries 
with nuclear power programmes, there has been a growing clamour of support 
within government and from the nuclear industry to develop a programme of 
‘Small’ Modular Reactors’ (SMRs). This has been part of a wider attempt to 
make nuclear power part of the ‘low carbon’ energy solution and stabilise 
the nuclear sector from an apparently terminal decline.
Much of this focus arises from the failings of the large reactor sector. In 
the UK alone, in 2018 both the Sellafield Moorside and the Wylfa B projects 
were effectively abandoned as Japanese reactor vendors pulled out because 
they were unable to attract the scale of finance required. 
Globally, even the home markets of China and Russia for large reactors have 
stalled and, there is little appetite for them, due to such projects being 
prohibitively expensive to develop and deliver.
The nuclear industry has put forward SMRs as a panacea to these problems of 
high cost and the difficulty of financing; a ready-made alternative that can 
fill the gap. However, as this report outlines in detail, there are huge 
obstacles to overcome. Some of these are technical issues, others are around
building up an effective supply chain, while the financing of such schemes
will only be possible with significant subsidy from the public purse.
Report after report, usually from the nuclear industry or its supporters, has 
made grandiose claims for SMRs and their importance in delivering a low carbon 
future. In the UK, the site of Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd, Wales, which hosts a 
former Magnox plant, is being heavily trailed by the industry and the UK and 
Welsh Governments as being ideal for SMRs. In Canada and the United States, 
sites have also been put forward. But is this confidence brittle-deep, style 
over substance, words rather than action?
This report has been initiated and developed by the Nuclear Consulting Group 
(NCG) to provide a rational, technical and independent analysis of the 
prospects for SMRs being developed in the UK and around the world. Whilst the
original ‘small’ nuclear reactors had a military application in nuclear powered 
submarines, this report focuses on, and takes in turn, each of the different 
SMR proposals that have been put forward by the nuclear industry – Light Water 
Reactors, Rolls Royce’s SMR designs and Non-Light Water Reactors (such as sodium
fast reactors and high temperature reactors). In each case the authors conclude 
that it remains likely that no substantive deployment of the technology will be 
realised, with just a very few reactors built, at most.