Indeed. Fundamentally, the economics of small reactors designed to generate electricity just don't look great as compared to larger ones, and that seems unlikely to change anytime soon for a variety of reasons. Alternate applications such as process heat could be a very different story but that is also unlikely to happen quickly - at least at scale. What we know how to build at the moment are AP-1000s, and funny enough, there seems to be plenty of room on ever-shakier grids for gigawatt scale, zero carbon generation...
Having today been for a tour around Sizewell B in the UK, the thing that struck me is how HUGE it all is. Add all the redundancy and security that's needed and I'm guessing even with newer technology "small" is relative!
Indeed. Fundamentally, the economics of small reactors designed to generate electricity just don't look great as compared to larger ones, and that seems unlikely to change anytime soon for a variety of reasons. Alternate applications such as process heat could be a very different story but that is also unlikely to happen quickly - at least at scale. What we know how to build at the moment are AP-1000s, and funny enough, there seems to be plenty of room on ever-shakier grids for gigawatt scale, zero carbon generation...
Having today been for a tour around Sizewell B in the UK, the thing that struck me is how HUGE it all is. Add all the redundancy and security that's needed and I'm guessing even with newer technology "small" is relative!