Small modular reactors are the latest innovation in nuclear energy — and they could one day make their way here. Local media last month reported than an American and a Russian firm are competing to build small nuclear reactors (SMRs) here and have held talks with the Nuclear Power Plants Authority on the potential projects, according to a local news outlet. So what are SMRs — and why are some hailing them as the successor to traditional nuclear power plants?

The flat-packs of nuclear reactors: SMRs are compact nuclear reactors that can generate up to 300 MW(e) per unit — around a third of the generating capacity of conventional nuclear reactors. The “modular” in the name refers to the fact that where traditional reactors have to be built from the ground up, SMR systems and parts can be produced in factories and then easily transported and assembled on site, per the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Is smaller better? SMRs’ smaller scale and ease of assembly could bring benefits in terms of affordability, efficiency, and flexibility, the IAEA says. SMRs can be fitted in facilities where larger nuclear plants are not suitable. Their lower electricity output means SMRs can be linked to rural electrical grids that have fewer transmission lines or lower capacity, or used off-grid to power specific sites. Where the custom-built nature of conventional reactors brings high costs and long construction timelines, SMRs can be prefabricated and shipped direct to side — and added to as energy demand at any given site increases. Their size means that SMRs also pose fewer safety risks and require less refueling than conventional reactor, according to the IAEA.

SMRs could help speed up the transition away from coal: Countries including France, India, Poland, Romania, the UK, and the US are looking into fitting SMRs on or near the sites of decommissioned coal plants, according to the IAEA. Existing infrastructure at coal plants — including water storage, desalination, and wastewater treatment systems, compressed air systems, and cooling towers — can all be repurposed for SMRs, while supply chains for coal plants and SMRs are also similar, the agency notes. “We should accelerate SMR deployment and on the other the decommissioning of coal stations. To achieve those two goals, using existing coal sites to implement nuclear projects can facilitate this switch,” EDF’s Anne Falchi told the IAEA in a webinar last year.

They could also power green hydrogen plants: Small reactors could also replace fossil fuels in industrial processes — and could serve to power plants producing low-carbon energy carriers like biofuels and green hydrogen. US firm NuScale and Shell Global are in the early stages of developing an SMR-powered green hydrogen plant, per Energy Tech.

That could be relevant for us: The government is aggressively pursuing investment in our nascent green hydrogen sector, signing more than a dozen MoUs worth bns of USD with private firms for projects in recent months, with more in the pipeline.

SMR firms are looking to target emerging markets: NuScale and the UK’s Rolls-Royce Consortium are both targeting African and South American markets, where “less robust grid systems might not support the energy load of traditional large-scale reactors,” Yale360 reports.

HOLD UP- This all sounds great. But the SMR industry is still in its infancy, and there are some big caveats:

#1- The tech is still in its early stages: There are more than 80 SMR designs in development globally, according to the IAEA. But there are just five small reactors actually in operation so far: three in Russia, one in India, and one built by China and exported to Pakistan, per the World Nuclear Association. More SMRs are under construction or in the licensing stage in countries including China, Russia, USA, Canada, South Korea and Argentina, the IAEA says

#2- Regulation is not in place: Only one SMR design has so far received regulatory approval in the US and there is as of yet no consensus on how to regulate SMRs globally. The IAEA last year launched the Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI). The two-track program will try to get governments to develop “common regulatory positions without compromising nuclear safety and national sovereignty,” while also encouraging industry players to create “standardized industrial approaches for SMR development, manufacturing, construction, and operations.” The hope is that shared regulation will make the rollout of SMR tech worldwide faster and cheaper.

#3- SMRs have some of the same drawbacks as their big siblings: The risk of a nuclear accident is reduced but not eliminated with SMRs — and smaller reactors still produce radioactive waste, for which we still have no permanent storage solutions. Those concerns have led critics to say that we’d be better off phasing out nuclear entirely in favor of other forms of renewables, as some countries already began to do in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, Yale360 reports.

Your top green economy stories for the week:

  • Scatec interconnector studies to go ahead: Ministers approved the signing of an MoU with Norwegian renewables developer Scatec to study a new 3-GW Egypt-Europe electricity interconnection project.
  • Renewables-powered desalination: The Sovereign Fund of Egypt prequalified 17consortiums to bid in upcoming tenders for renewables-powered desalination plants, according to a statement.
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