Small modular Fission Reactors.

[Helius]

A Giant in the Fission nuclear industry goes for the small modular fission plant. What happened to the economy of scale that mandated 1+GW reactors? http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/news/loc ... tor/16713/

[KitemanSA]

Looks like they are just jumping on the bandwagon. Most of the industry seems to be working toward small modular units with the economies of scale now going toward multiple cpies of a standard module rather than huge, one-off plants. Same economies, different scale!

[IntLibber]

Looks like they are just jumping on the bandwagon. Most of the industry seems to be working toward small modular units with the economies of scale now going toward multiple cpies of a standard module rather than huge, one-off plants. Same economies, different scale!

Thats nice, lets start seeing dozens of installations all over the country and I'll be impressed.

[KitemanSA]

Looks like they are just jumping on the bandwagon. Most of the industry seems to be working toward small modular units with the economies of scale now going toward multiple cpies of a standard module rather than huge, one-off plants. Same economies, different scale!

Thats nice, lets start seeing dozens of installations all over the country and I'll be impressed.

Heck, I'll be happy when I see the first of a potential many. Calvert Cliffs in MD is oft cited as a potential site. The room is there and the customer base could truly use the energy.

[TallDave]

I'm skeptical of their cost-efficiency claims. What breakthrough changed the economies of scale? If this makes sense, why weren't we building smaller reactors decades ago?

I have a feeling the answer has to do with politics and licensing costs, and won't be pretty for smaller plants.

[Helius]

I'm skeptical of their cost-efficiency claims. What breakthrough changed the economies of scale? If this makes sense, why weren't we building smaller reactors decades ago?

I have a feeling the answer has to do with politics and licensing costs, and won't be pretty for smaller plants.

Really. They're still pressurized LWRs. That'll help licensing. The only other thing it can be is that the cast components are smaller, and that they can be assembled in a centralized location and trucked to site. Can 10 smaller cast components of a type be cheaper than one that is 10 times bigger? Maybe monitoring/control room procedures can be combined for some other cost savings.

It helps too that they're in politically `tipsy' states such as Ohio....

[KitemanSA]

I'm skeptical of their cost-efficiency claims. What breakthrough changed the economies of scale? If this makes sense, why weren't we building smaller reactors decades ago?

I have a feeling the answer has to do with politics and licensing costs, and won't be pretty for smaller plants.

There was a political breakthru.

As I understand it, each old style plant had to go thru TWO licencing reviews, one for the design of the plant, and one for the site. There was no option to re-use a plant design and skip the plant review. They HAD to undergo a plant review EVERY TIME. Thus, you might as well make improvements....

About a decade or so ago it seems the AEC.. unh.. NRC .. unh well whatever they are called these days, decided that a plant DESIGN could be licenced to be used at any site that met certain requirements, so the licencing cycle for new installations was limited to the site licencing cycle.

At that point, actual economies "assembly line" construction became feasible.

If I can licence a site to hold up to 2GW of licenced plants, does it make more sense to build one 2GW plant if I only need 500MW now, or should I build a set of 250MW plants now and more later as needed? I think the second option is the sounder decision.

[KitemanSA]

At that point, actual economies "assembly line" construction became feasible.


Yes, stop burning the coal and put in modular PWRs or liquid Thorium reactors. I heard there was modular design by Toshiba called the 4S, and there was another modular LWR designed by some graduate of University of Oregon that can do the job. It's all a matter of will, and investment.

I hope the Polywell or similar low cost fusion reactor beats them to the punch.

Seems unlikely. The 4S is in theory going to be on line by about 2013.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena_Nuclear_Power_Plant

[MSimon]

Providing the energy as process steam vs electrical power may make a difference in economy.