In order for the Czechia not to have to import large quantities of electricity from abroad in the coming decades, it will have to unconditionally partially replace coal with gas or large nuclear power units. However, once modular reactors are on the market, analysts say they will be a more suitable alternative. Gas has the disadvantage that the European Union perceives it only as a transitional fuel and may soon begin to fine it in the same way as coal. The construction of large nuclear resources carries great financial risks.
A new type of nuclear power plant could therefore pull the thorn out of many statesmen’s heels. If the developed technology were to reach the market in the next decade, it could soon become a key pillar not only for electricity supply but also for heat supply. “Small modular reactors could completely solve the puzzle that will fall on the Czechia,” says Pavel Muchna, project manager of J&T Banka, who has been monitoring the development of modular reactors for a long time.
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According to analysts, modular reactors are a hope mainly because their developers and creators promise series production, almost like on a treadmill. This innovative approach is not only to increase the speed of construction, but especially to reduce the investment costs, which for the newly built large nuclear power plants many times exceed the original budget plans.
An example of an expensive project is the ongoing completion of the Hinkley Point C power plant in the United Kingdom, the price tag of which has more than tripled from the original almost seven billion euros. They also saw a significant increase in France at the Flamanville power plant, where the original amount of 3.3 billion euros is to increase to almost 12 billion euros. In Mochovce, Slovakia, two units have been completed for decades, which have more than doubled from the original plans to 2.8 billion compared to the original plans. In addition, all projects are accompanied by delays.
Mass production in the factory, easier transport of modules and their subsequent on-site assembly are features that allow small reactors to compete with large ones, even though, at least initially, their budgeted price per unit of output will be relatively higher. “A certain bridging period, when smaller modular reactors will be relatively more expensive than large ones, will certainly be there,” expects Marek Ruščák, who manages the development of the Czech modular reactor at the Řež Research Center. “But it is not the case that large and small reactors compete, but rather complement each other. The Czechia should continue the Dukovany project and at the same time prepare legislatively and systematically for the deployment of the first modular reactors, “added Ruščák.
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The problem is that in the Western Hemisphere, this new technology is still far from being launched, and plans to launch are gradually being postponed. The furthest is the project of Nuscale, which was to start building the first reactor in 2023. According to the latest reports, however, it will be postponed by two years.
Although the proposed design from Nuscale has already received a general license from the US Office of Nuclear Safety NRC, its developers decided to change the concept and increase the installed capacity for each module from 50 to 77 megawatts. This step will require the resumption of the licensing process, which the company wants to restart next year. A year later, the company wants to apply for a license for a specific construction project to be created in Utah. If all goes according to plan, the first electricity will be produced by new reactors in 2029.
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Other promising companies in the industry also want to have the first prototypes by the end of this decade, planning to commercialize in the 1930s. In addition to Nuscale, GE Hitachi and Rolls-Royce are also far behind, while ČEZ has signed a memorandum of cooperation with all three and is monitoring their development.
According to the analysts, no one doubts that the modular reactors will eventually break through, also because the first prototypes are already in operation in China and Russia. Specifically, it is a high-temperature reactor HTR-PM and a floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov.
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“It will be interesting for the industry to watch how the reactors prove their worth in operation and what their operating economic parameters will be. One way or another, modular reactors will need serial production and a sufficient number of orders to improve the economy, “says Vladimír Wagner, a nuclear physicist at the Academy of Sciences. According to him, it will also be crucial for their competitiveness that national authorities simplify licensing procedures and conditions. These are, with some exceptions, the same as those that conventional large reactors must meet. For many parameters, such as the size of the emergency zone, this does not make sense, according to Wagner, because the reactors being developed should be safer.
The modular reactors that are closest to operation are, so far, rather only reduced versions of those commonly used. More modern ones, which already use breakthrough types of refrigerant, for example, will enter the market much later. They lack a sufficiently long data series to evaluate their safety and reliability.
Infographics: (Photos of reactors with their parameters – just like here: https://www.e15.cz/byznys/prumysl-a-energetika/jadernou-energetiku-maji-spasit-male-reaktory-1362043)
NuScale (USA)
Installed capacity of one modular reactor: 77 megawatts
Planned construction: 2025
Commissioning of the first demonstration plant: 2029
GE Hitachi (USA, Japan)
Installed capacity of one modular reactor: 300 megawatts
Planned construction: 2023
Commissioning of the first demonstration plant: 2025
Rolls-Royce (Great Britain)
Installed capacity of one modular reactor: 440 megawatts
Planned construction: Not specified
Commissioning of the first demonstration plant: 2029
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