Economic Feasibility of Energy Supply by Small Modular Nuclear Reactors on Small Islands: Case Studies of Jeju, Tasmania and Tenerife

Abstract

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) offer the promise of providing carbon-free electricity and heat to small islands or isolated electricity grids. However, the economic feasibility of SMRs is highly system-dependent and has not been studied in this context. We selected three case-study islands for such an evaluation: Jeju, Tasmania and Tenerife based on their system complexity. We generated 100,000 electricity-mix cases stochastically for each island and examined the system-level generation-cost changes by incrementing the average generation cost of SMRs from USD$60 to 200 MWh−1. SMRs were found to be economically viable when average generation cost was <$100 MWh−1 for Jeju and <$140 MWh−1 for Tenerife. For Tasmania the situation was complex; hydroelectric power is an established competitor, but SMRs might be complementary in a future “battery of the nation” scenario where most of the island’s hydro capacity was exported to meet peak power demand on the mainland grid. The higher average generation cost of SMRs makes it difficult for them to compete economically with a fossil fuel/renewable mix in many contexts. However, we have demonstrated that SMRs can be an economically viable carbon-free option for a small island with a limited land area and high energy demand.

Perspective on Site Selection of Small Modular Reactors

“…Babcock and Wilcox received one of the funds and designed m-Power (160 MW), while NuScale Power received the another one and developed NuScale Reactor (60 MW) (Buchholz et al, 2015;Carelli, 2015). Many other projects of SMRs have also been developed in various countries around the world, such as SMART (100 MWe) in South Korea (Park, 2011;Hong and Brook, 2018), ACP-100 (100 MWe) in China (Ramana et al, 2013) and KLT-40S (two units of 35 MWe) in Russia (Nian and Zhong, 2020). The design of SMRs are corresponded to all the main reactor categories which include water-cooled reactors, high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, liquid-metal, sodium and gas-cooled reactors with fast neutron spectrum, and molten salt reactors (Locatelli et al, 2013;International Atomic Energy Agency, 2014).…”

“…There have been more than 40 concepts of SMRs being developed at various stages from conceptual design to prototype construction around the world. A report published by IAEA summarized that the SMRs based on light water reactor were recognized as the most mature technology with lowest risk for the moment (Hong and Brook, 2018;Siegel et al, 2018).…”

Numerical Study on the Effects of Relative Diameters on the Performance of Small Modular Reactors Driven by Natural Circulation

“…Currently, the research on small modular reactors (SMRs) is increasing rapidly owing to the advantages of these devices. SMRs can be used for multipurpose applications and may well be safer than large-capacity reactors [5][6][7]. Some specific applications of SMRs are ship propulsion [8], small-scale power generation [9], desalinization [10], and district heating [11].…”

“…Hence, the nuclear societies worldwide have been developing new and innovative reactors with the objective of guaranteeing safety under any circumstances and in natural disasters. Due to the increment of the requirements for the nuclear safety and security [1], there are a lot of research and technology developments to improve the safety, sustainability, efficiency, and cost in nuclear power plants (e.g., Generation IV reactors [2,3], Thorium reactors [4], and small modular reactors [5,6]). Currently, the research on small modular reactors (SMRs) is increasing rapidly owing to the advantages of these devices.…”

Energy and exergy analyses of a hybrid small modular reactor and wind turbine system for trigeneration

“…Their results showed that the decommissioning costs of an SMR with respect to a large reactor can decrease from three times higher to two times for the same capacity. Hong and Brook discussed the economic feasibility of SMRs for islands in Tasmania, Jeju, and Tenerife. They have concluded that SMRs is one of the carbon‐neutral options and can be economically viable for the islands where land is limited and energy demand is high.…”