Small Nuclear Reactors Could Be Key to Powering Future

(TheConservativeTimes.org) – Small nuclear plants could help revolutionize power as many look to move away from fossil fuels.

Small modular reactors, or SMRs, are new designs that would promise to speed up the deployment of new plants as the demand for electricity continues to rise. There is a need for more electricity as certain technologies like artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and manufacturing become more popular.

Coal plants are being retired across the country as part of an energy transition away from fossil fuels, concerning many about an electricity supply gap. This is where nuclear power could become a potential solution since it’s the most reliable power source and doesn’t emit carbon dioxide.

Building large plants takes too much time and it’s extremely costly, which isn’t beneficial for anyone. Small modular reactors with a capacity of about three hundred megawatts could be a solution.

“They’re a smaller bite from a capital perspective,” said the chief nuclear officer at the Nuclear Energy Institute, Doug True. “They’re a perfect fit for things like replacing a retired coal plant, because the size of coal plants typically is more than that of the small modular reactor design space.”

There are currently only three of these small modular reactors in the world and two are in China and one in Russia. There is also a test reactor in Japan.

Executives in the industry have agreed that these small reactors won’t reach a commercial stage until the end of the decade.