Economic viability of light water small modular nuclear reactors: General methodology and vendor data

Black, Geoffrey; Aydoğan, Fatih; Koerner, Cassandra

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2018.12.041

Cited by 50 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…SMRs have a lower technology readiness level than traditional pressurized water reactors and are not commercially available today. The capital cost for a particular SMR design proposed by NuScale is estimated to be $2.5 billion for a multiple-module 685 MW plant, or $3,600/kW (Black et al, 2019). Using a 0.7 scaling factor to scale-down the plant to 300 MW, the installed cost becomes $1.4 billion and the unit cost becomes $4,640/kW (VF) and $4,950/kW (HF).…”

Section: Cases 4a and 4b: Electric Resistance Calciner Powered By Nucmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Gas vs. Electricity for Solvent-Based Direct Air Capture

et al. 2021

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Removing CO2 from the air with chemicals (Direct Air Capture, DAC) requires a significant amount of energy. Here, we evaluate the cost of co-constructing a solvent DAC process with its energy system. We compare eight energy systems paired with two alternative designs for a liquid-solvent DAC system capturing 1 MtCO2/year, which requires roughly 240 to 300 megawatts of steady power equivalent, 80% thermal and 20% electric. Two energy systems burn natural gas onsite for heat and electricity, capturing nearly all the CO2 released during combustion, and six are all-electric non-fossil systems. The cost of the DAC facility alone contributes $310/tCO2 for a conventional process-based design and $150/tCO2 for a more novel design. When the decomposition of calcium carbonate occurs within a natural-gas-heated calciner, the energy system adds only $80/tCO2 to these costs, assuming $3.25/GJ ($3.43/MMBtu) gas. However, leakage in the natural gas supply chain increases the cost of net capture dramatically: with 2.3% leakage (U.S. national average) and a 20-year Global Warming Potential of 86, costs are about 50% higher. For the all-electric systems, the total capture cost depends on the electricity cost: for each $/MWh of levelized cost of electricity, the total capture cost increases by roughly $2/tCO2. Continuous power is required, because the high-temperature calciner cannot be cycled on and off, so solar and wind power must be supplemented with storage. Our representative capture costs are $250–$440/tCO2 for geothermal energy, $370–$620/tCO2 for nuclear energy (two variants–a light water reactor and small modular nuclear), $360–$570/tCO2 for wind, $430–$690/tCO2 for solar photovoltaics (two variants assuming different daily solar capacities), and $300–$490/tCO2 for a hybrid system with a natural-gas-powered electric calciner.

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Section: Cases 4a and 4b: Electric Resistance Calciner Powered By Nucmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Gas vs. Electricity for Solvent-Based Direct Air Capture

et al. 2021

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“…Since the initial nuclear reactors considered for operation at the UAE's "Barakah" plant are of the Advanced Pressurized Water types (APR 1400), our finding that increased youths' interests in the biosphere leads to more NPT awareness, but conjointly less optimistic expectations about the technology may perhaps suggest that future expansions of the national nuclear capacity could benefit from improved youths' NPT perceptions by considering the Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) types. Indeed, the SMRs types have been proposed as possible alternatives addressing the socioeconomic problems (i.e., high costs, risk of catastrophic incidents, difficult radioactive waste management), which confront the nuclear power industry today [94][95][96].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Youths Interests in the Biosphere and Sensitivity to Nuclear Power Technology in the UAE: With Discussions on Open Innovation and Technological Convergence in Energy and Water Sectors

Niankara

2020

Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity

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Nuclear power technology (NPT) perception and acceptance have globally emerged as the most critical questions for the successful integration of NPT into any national energy mix. In its combination with seawater desalination, NPT provides a sustainable alternative for the security and economic efficiency of both energy and fresh water supply, the latter of which has been identified as “the bloodstream of the biosphere”. Integrating econometric analysis into energy research with social science ramifications, this paper relies on bivariate ordered probit regression to study the impact of youths’ interests in the biosphere on their awareness and optimism toward NPT in the UAE. The model is estimated using maximum likelihood methods, with the results showing each level increase in UAE youths’ biospheric interests, to increase their NPT awareness by 13.5%, while conjointly reducing their optimistic expectations toward the technology by 2.4%. In addition, awareness and expectations about NPT are found to vary heterogeneously across the seven Emirates of the country. Moreover, accounting for all relevant factors (including respondents’ biospheric interests), formed expectations about NPT are not significantly shaped by NPT awareness. Given that the first unit of the UAE’s nuclear power plant “Barakah” just became operational in August 2020, our results provide important insights for evidence-based policy making to sustain the nascent nuclear energy program in the long run.

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“…Mignacca and Locatelli, (2020) provide a detailed cost analysis into all economic aspects of a small module reactor plant (SMR) and highlight more effort should be focused on a programme level perspective. Other different economic analyses predict SMRs can reduce costs compared to a large reactor by 17% (Carelli et al, 2010), 29.95% (Giovanni and 37.98% (Black et al, 2019).…”

Section: Economics Of Smrsmentioning

confidence: 99%