What if the logic at the core of the SMR paradigm is faulty?

One of the key promises of SMRs is to move a greater percentage of work from the unproductive construction site to a productive factory environment... but what if large modular reactors do a better job of that?

Module construction for the nuclear steam supply system and balance of plant containing key components, HVAC, electrical, plumbing etc... can be moved to the factory environment in small or large modular reactors like AP1000, ABWR or the most recent CANDUs.

Civil works and site preparation cannot.

The problem with grid scale SMRs like BWRX-300 & AP300 etc... is that the civil works and site preparation don't scale down proportionately with the decreased reactor output.

The nuclear steam supply system and turbine island is typically only 25% of the overnight construction cost of a nuclear plant. The civil works, site preparation, installation work dominate overnight cost.

Therefore with grid scale SMRs ~300MWe you actually end up with a greater proportion of work per MWe being on the unproductive construction site compared to a large modular reactor defeating the premise and promise of SMR productivity gains.

Support Decouple on Patreon:   / decouple  
Learn more about Decouple Media: https://www.decouplemedia.org