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Clean Energy Solution or Potential Disaster?
Thoughts on the nuclear power plants
Recently I was reading that the government of the United Kingdom would be providing half the initial funding for 4 new, small modular reactors (SMRs). The other £210m would be from private investment. An additional sum of about £2bn would still need to be raised to complete each project.
Nuclear power provides about 21% of the UK’s electricity today. The technology for SMRs was first used on nuclear submarines.
Currently, a large plant capable of supplying power to up to 6 million homes is being constructed at Hinkley Point in Somerset, England. This larger nuclear reactor will generate about 3.2 gigawatts. Each SMR, on the other hand, will only supply 1/6 of the power as Hinkley Point, but will do so at a cost of about 1/10. Therefore, the smaller plant makes sense in terms of value.
An additional advantage is that SMRs are small enough to be built in modular fashion by factories. They can then be transported and assembled on site. This greatly reduces both risk and cost.
According to industry sources, the SMRs will take a decade to complete.
In the interim, the debate continues about how safe nuclear energy is. After all, we have the specter of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and…
