Nuclear power: Big business deals – Pocket reactors on the Greek islands –

Table of Contents

• 1 Trump and nuclear power
• 2 Nuclear power: The creation of “pocket” reactors will drop electricity prices
• 3 The small modular reactors
• 4 The deals of business giants in nuclear energy
• 5 Research on SMR in the Greek Islands
• 6 Support for nuclear at COP29
• 7 The major manufacturers of “pocket nukes”
• 8 The risks
• 9 Here are two PAA-related questions based ​on the provided interview⁣ outline:

The shift to nuclear power, from America to India and from Norway to Southeast Europe, particularly in the United States after the election of Donald Trump, is more than obvious.

Trump and nuclear power

After all, even in his first term as president, Trump had promoted pro-nuclear policies and provided billions in loans to build the Vogtle plant in Georgia and the failed Small Modular Reactor (SRM) power project in Idaho. SMR) by Nuscale Power.

Nuclear power: The creation of “pocket” reactors will drop electricity prices

In any case, in a recent campaign speech, he said he would bring in “advanced small modular nuclear reactors”, which he sees as having advantages over larger nuclear plants, citing “cost overruns”.

The small modular reactors

Whether Trump’s influence on the nuclear sector will be strong or limited internationally remains to be seen as the dynamics of the sector – even with the strong support of the pro-nuclear US government – ​​show a relative weakening not only because of the serious environmental implications it carries the activity, but mainly because of the huge investment costs.

According to a study on SMRs in Greece by the professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Mr. Panteli Biska, who had recently presented at the 28th National Conference “Energy and Development 2024” the investment costs are extremely high and range from 1.9 to 3.9 billion. euros, i.e. from 5,500 euros to 11,600 euros per kilowatt (kW).

The deals of business giants in nuclear energy

In any case, discussions and processes at the political and business level have been on fire lately. Big tech companies like Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon are turning to nuclear power. Last Tuesday, Norsk Kjernekraft signed a memorandum of understanding with nuclear reactor developer X-energy to explore, among other things, the development of small modular reactors in Norway.

The deal also includes DL Energy and DL E&C, from South Korea’s DL Group, which signed a partnership agreement with Norsk Kjernekraft last August. Tech giant Amazon recently acquired a stake in X-energy, which aims to deploy up to 5 GW of small modular reactors in the US by 2039.

Last Monday a joint report by NRG-Pallas and TNO concluded that small modular reactors could contribute to the Netherlands’ energy transition, arguing that there is room to install more than 13 SMRs by 2050.

Research on SMR in the Greek Islands

On the same day, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking at two events – one at Bloomberg and one at the GenAI Summit – also included Greece in the “framework” of nuclear energy, even though our country, as he said, has no involvement with the issue. “We don’t have a nuclear power background in Greece, but we would certainly be interested in following this technology and seeing where it can take us. We have islands, for example, that need decentralized systems. It is not necessary that all of these will always be or can be interconnected (including with the national electricity transmission system)”, he said characteristically.

According to the prime minister, nuclear energy will be part of the energy mix, pointing out that it is a green technology. “To rule out a technology simply because there are other aspects that we don’t like doesn’t seem to me to be the right way to go,” he stressed. As he said, “I have argued that when we talk about reducing emissions we should be technologically agnostic, so we should not say ‘this is the path we must necessarily take'”.

He even referred to the large investments in this technology that probably in five years much more will be known. “I don’t want us to put all our eggs in one basket and realize that at some point there will be another technology that has been developed,” he said, noting that developments with SMRs are of great interest to him.

Support for nuclear at COP29

And the developments are “running”. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, which concludes today, signaled continued support for nuclear power, reinforcing its role as a cornerstone of global decarbonization efforts. Building on last year’s COP-28 held in Dubai, COP-29 highlighted the commitment of 31 countries to triple their nuclear power by 2050, as well as the central role of nuclear power in achieving zero carbon emissions.

Since COP29 in Baku, US Deputy Secretary of State Bonnie Jenkins and Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Khalushchenko announced, among other things, the construction of a pilot plant in Ukraine to demonstrate clean hydrogen and ammonia production using small modular reactor technology. The project is being carried out by a multinational public-private consortium from Japan, South Korea, Ukraine and the USA. Also, Ukraine is considering the suitability of sites at Chernobyl for future SMR construction.

The major manufacturers of “pocket nukes”

A few days before, on November 15 Laurentis Energy Partners of Canada signed an agreement with Orlen Synthos Green Energy to support the development preparation of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s BWRX-300 small modular reactor in Poland. At the same time, in Britain, four companies qualified for the small modular reactor (SMR) selection process: GE Hitachi, Holtec, Rolls-Royce SMR and Westinghouse.

Negotiations began on Monday 11 November ahead of the submission of final bids, with a final decision from Great British Nuclear now expected to be made in the ‘spring’ of next year (March to May). The aim is that, once the planning is completed, the regulatory, environmental and special siting permits are issued and an equipment supply contract is concluded, the final investment decision will be made in 2029 for the installation of multiple SMRs.

The risks

In any case, as the Nuclear Physics professor Mr. Thanasis Geranios in his recent article in “Sunday’s Step”, a purely social issue such as that of nuclear energy with scattered nuclear accidents, more seriously that of Chernobyl and Fukushima, is dangerous, with the impossibility of permanent solutions to the nuclear waste produced by the plants during the their operation and the wastes of themselves when they must be dissolved by reason of old age, be so casually treated and supported as to christened green energy.

And he adds: “If we want the use of nuclear energy we will have to replace all variants of fission reactors with those of fusion. These reactors do not have the characteristics of fission reactors, i.e., the raw material is unlimited (deuterium), no nuclear waste is produced and no nuclear accidents are caused. However, they are at the testing stage and their implementation is expected after a decade. A realistic use, especially for our country, is the use of mild forms of energy that can soon replace conventional forms of energy.”

Source: ot.gr