IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v206y2020ics0360544220312445.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Deeds not words: Barriers and remedies for Small Modular nuclear Reactors

Author

Listed:
  • Mignacca, Benito
  • Locatelli, Giorgio
  • Sainati, Tristano

Abstract

There is a growing interest in Small Modular nuclear Reactors (SMRs) driven mostly by the concerns in decarbonising the electricity and heat sectors. Despite the expected advantages of SMRs with respect to large reactors (e.g. construction schedule reduction, lower upfront investment per unit) and at least two decades of studies, investments in SMRs have been extremely limited. Leveraging a literature review, in-depth discussions, and a questionnaire survey, this paper aims to identify and rank general elements hindering SMR construction, specific licensing and regulatory elements affecting SMR construction, and elements favouring or hindering the reuse of SMR modules. The results show that financial and economic issues (including perceived investment risk, availability of cheaper technologies to generate electricity) are the main barriers for SMR construction. Government support for financing the first-of-a-kind and developing a supply chain could allow overcoming these barriers. Time, cost and risk of the licensing process are critical elements for SMR construction; therefore, policies should be in place to support stakeholders. The economic feasibility can hinder the opportunity of reusing SMR modules. Design and interface standardisation are the main enabling factors of reusing SMR modules. Further studies on SMR decommissioning through a "circular economy" lens are needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio & Sainati, Tristano, 2020. "Deeds not words: Barriers and remedies for Small Modular nuclear Reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:206:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220312445
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118137
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544220312445
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2020.118137?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giorgio Locatelli, 2018. "Why are Megaprojects, Including Nuclear Power Plants, Delivered Overbudget and Late? Reasons and Remedies," Papers 1802.07312, arXiv.org.
    2. Choi, Sungyeol & Jun, Eunju & Hwang, IlSoon & Starz, Anne & Mazour, Tom & Chang, SoonHeung & Burkart, Alex R., 2009. "Fourteen lessons learned from the successful nuclear power program of the Republic of Korea," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5494-5508, December.
    3. Vujić, Jasmina & Bergmann, Ryan M. & Škoda, Radek & Miletić, Marija, 2012. "Small modular reactors: Simpler, safer, cheaper?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 288-295.
    4. Ramana, M.V. & Ahmad, Ali, 2016. "Wishful thinking and real problems: Small modular reactors, planning constraints, and nuclear power in Jordan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 236-245.
    5. Sainati, Tristano & Locatelli, Giorgio & Smith, Nigel, 2019. "Project financing in nuclear new build, why not? The legal and regulatory barriers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 111-119.
    6. Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio & Velenturf, Anne, 2020. "Modularisation as enabler of circular economy in energy infrastructure," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    8. Proskurina, Svetlana & Alakangas, Eija & Heinimö, Jussi & Mikkilä, Mirja & Vakkilainen, Esa, 2017. "A survey analysis of the wood pellet industry in Finland: Future perspectives," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 692-704.
    9. Locatelli, Giorgio & Boarin, Sara & Fiordaliso, Andrea & Ricotti, Marco E., 2018. "Load following of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) by cogeneration of hydrogen: A techno-economic analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 494-505.
    10. Mignacca, B. & Locatelli, G., 2020. "Economics and finance of Small Modular Reactors: A systematic review and research agenda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    11. Steffen Lehmann, 2011. "Optimizing Urban Material Flows and Waste Streams in Urban Development through Principles of Zero Waste and Sustainable Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-29, January.
    12. Ramana, M.V. & Hopkins, Laura Berzak & Glaser, Alexander, 2013. "Licensing small modular reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 555-564.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lindley, Ben & Roulstone, Tony & Locatelli, Giorgio & Rooney, Matt, 2023. "Can fusion energy be cost-competitive and commercially viable? An analysis of magnetically confined reactors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    2. Nian, Victor & Ghori, Amjad & Guerra, Eddie M. & Locatelli, Giorgio & Murphy, Paul, 2022. "Accelerating safe small modular reactor development in Southeast Asia," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Nian, Victor & Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio, 2022. "Policies toward net-zero: Benchmarking the economic competitiveness of nuclear against wind and solar energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    4. Wang Dongfang & Pablo Ponce & Zhang Yu & Katerine Ponce & Muhammad Tanveer, 2022. "The future of industry 4.0 and the circular economy in Chinese supply chain: In the Era of post-COVID-19 pandemic," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 342-356, June.
    5. Alhadhrami, Saeed & Soto, Gabriel J & Lindley, Ben, 2023. "Dispatch analysis of flexible power operation with multi-unit small modular reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    6. Pablo Fernández-Arias & Diego Vergara & Álvaro Antón-Sancho, 2023. "Bibliometric Review and Technical Summary of PWR Small Modular Reactors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-15, July.
    7. Haneklaus, Nils & Qvist, Staffan & Gładysz, Paweł & Bartela, Łukasz, 2023. "Why coal-fired power plants should get nuclear-ready," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    8. Seyed Ali Hosseini & Reza Akbari & Amir Saeed Shirani & Francesco D’Auria, 2023. "Small Modular Reactors Licensing Process Based on BEPU Approach: Status and Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-15, April.
    9. Invernizzi, Diletta Colette & Locatelli, Giorgio & Brookes, Naomi & Davis, Allison, 2020. "Qualitative comparative analysis as a method for project studies: The case of energy infrastructure," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nian, Victor & Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio, 2022. "Policies toward net-zero: Benchmarking the economic competitiveness of nuclear against wind and solar energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    2. Mignacca, B. & Locatelli, G., 2020. "Economics and finance of Small Modular Reactors: A systematic review and research agenda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    3. Locatelli, Giorgio & Mancini, Mauro & Lotti, Giovanni, 2020. "A simple-to-implement real options method for the energy sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    4. Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio & Velenturf, Anne, 2020. "Modularisation as enabler of circular economy in energy infrastructure," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Okunlola, Ayodeji & Davis, Matthew & Kumar, Amit, 2023. "Assessing the cost competitiveness of electrolytic hydrogen production from small modular nuclear reactor-based power plants: A price-following perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    6. Lindley, Ben & Roulstone, Tony & Locatelli, Giorgio & Rooney, Matt, 2023. "Can fusion energy be cost-competitive and commercially viable? An analysis of magnetically confined reactors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    7. Haneklaus, Nils & Schröders, Sarah & Zheng, Yanhua & Allelein, Hans-Josef, 2017. "Economic evaluation of flameless phosphate rock calcination with concentrated solar power and high temperature reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 1148-1157.
    8. Elaheh Shobeiri & Filippo Genco & Daniel Hoornweg & Akira Tokuhiro, 2023. "Small Modular Reactor Deployment and Obstacles to Be Overcome," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-19, April.
    9. Carlo L. Vinoya & Aristotle T. Ubando & Alvin B. Culaba & Wei-Hsin Chen, 2023. "State-of-the-Art Review of Small Modular Reactors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-30, April.
    10. Frederik Reitsma & Peter Woods & Martin Fairclough & Yongjin Kim & Harikrishnan Tulsidas & Luis Lopez & Yanhua Zheng & Ahmed Hussein & Gerd Brinkmann & Nils Haneklaus & Anand Rao Kacham & Tumuluri Sre, 2018. "On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Christian von Hirschhausen, 2022. "Nuclear Power in the Twenty-first Century (Part II) - The Economic Value of Plutonium," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2011, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Erwan Hermawan & Usman Sudjadi, 2022. "Integrated Nuclear-Renewable Energy System for Industrialization in West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia: Economic, Potential Site, and Policy Recommendation," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(4), pages 146-159, July.
    13. Wealer, B. & Bauer, S. & Hirschhausen, C.v. & Kemfert, C. & Göke, L., 2021. "Investing into third generation nuclear power plants - Review of recent trends and analysis of future investments using Monte Carlo Simulation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    14. Liu, Yanyan & Huang, Guohe & Chen, Jiapei & Zhang, Xiaoyue & Zheng, Xiaogui & Zhai, Mengyu, 2022. "Development of an optimization-aided small modular reactor siting model – A case study of Saskatchewan, Canada," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    15. Carless, Travis S. & Talabi, Sola M. & Fischbeck, Paul S., 2019. "Risk and regulatory considerations for small modular reactor emergency planning zones based on passive decontamination potential," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 740-756.
    16. Alonso, Gustavo & Bilbao, Sama & Valle, Edmundo del, 2016. "Economic competitiveness of small modular reactors versus coal and combined cycle plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 867-879.
    17. Nian, Victor & Ghori, Amjad & Guerra, Eddie M. & Locatelli, Giorgio & Murphy, Paul, 2022. "Accelerating safe small modular reactor development in Southeast Asia," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    18. Iyer, Gokul & Hultman, Nathan & Fetter, Steve & Kim, Son H., 2014. "Implications of small modular reactors for climate change mitigation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 144-154.
    19. Anne P. M. Velenturf, 2021. "A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-41, September.
    20. Dong, Zhe & Liu, Miao & Zhang, Zuoyi & Dong, Yujie & Huang, Xiaojin, 2019. "Automatic generation control for the flexible operation of multimodular high temperature gas-cooled reactor plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 11-31.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:206:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220312445. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.