Abstract
In recent years, small modular reactors (SMRs) have been attracting considerable attention around the world. SMR designs incorporate innovative approaches to achieve simplicity, modularity and speed of build, passive safety features, proliferation resistance, and reduced financial risk. The incremental capacity expansion associated with SMR deployment could provide a better match (than the large-scale reactors) to the limited grid capacity of many developing countries. Because of their lower capital requirements, SMRs could also effectively address the energy needs of small developing countries with limited financial resources. Although SMRs can have substantially higher specific capital costs as compared to large-scale reactors, they may nevertheless enjoy significant economic benefits due to shorter build times, accelerated learning effects and co-siting economies, temporal and sizing flexibility of deployment, and design simplification.
Highlights
Increasing concerns related to energy supply security and widespread perceptions about the urgency of mitigating climate change are generating significant tensions in the global energy policy framework.A consensus is emerging on the need for: (i) a much longer term view of policy than that envisaged in Sustainability 2012, 4 the traditional debate about electricity restructuring, privatization, and deregulation;(ii) increased reliance on low-carbon generating technologies; and (ii) technological diversification.According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), world primary energy demand in the Reference Scenario, is projected to increase from 12,150 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2009 to 18,300 Mtoe in 2035, an increase of over 50 percent
Small modular reactors can be classified according to the reactor technology and coolant
We summarize below the opportunities and challenges for Small modular reactors (SMRs) deployment in developing countries, and highlight the pathways for the resolution of the identified challenges and issues
Summary
Increasing concerns related to energy supply security and widespread perceptions about the urgency of mitigating climate change are generating significant tensions in the global energy policy framework. As evidence mounts on global warming, pressures for curtailing carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired electricity generation will escalate sharply This gives rise to one of the central challenges in global energy policy: how to secure in the context of a carbon-constrained world, with coal and to a lesser extent natural gas (potentially) being limited in their future growth by restrictions on CO2 emissions, the energy sources that will provide the estimated additional 4200 gigawatts of new electricity generation capacity the world is likely to demand by 2035. SMRs could provide an attractive and affordable nuclear power option for many developing countries with small electricity markets, insufficient grid capacity, and limited financial resources. They may be suitable for non-electrical applications such as desalination, process heat for industrial uses and district heating, and hydrogen production. SMRs could offer significant advantages in terms overall simplicity, modularity and speed of build, passive safety features, proliferation resistance, and reduced financial risk
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