How Nuclear Power Can Transform Electric Grid and Critical Infrastructure Resilience

Abstract

No element of a nation's Critical Infrastructure (CI) is more essential than the electric Grid—the system that generates and delivers electricity to power homes, businesses, industry, other Critical Infrastructure, and a nation's Strategic Asset Supply Chains (SASCs). Grid resilience—the Grid's ability to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and recover from major disruptions, and to rapidly restore electric service in the wake of them—is a matter of paramount importance. This paper examines the potential for nuclear power (and particularly the development of a new generation of resilient Nuclear Power Plants, or “rNPPS”) to transform Grid, CI, and SASC resilience via deployment of rNPPs in resilient Critical Infrastructure Islands, or “rCIIs.” The nature of society's dependence on electricity and the Grid that generates and delivers electricity to consumers is briefly examined. The scope of natural hazards and malevolent human threats to the Grid are summarized. The concept of Grid resilience is next introduced. The role of current‐generation nuclear power plants in the Grid and in achieving Grid resilience is assessed. The two defining attributes and Six Functional Requirements of resilient Power Plants (rPPs) and resilient Nuclear Power Plants (rNPPs) are presented. Next, the results of a small survey and preliminary evaluation of the resilience attributes of some new Small Modular Reactor (SMR) and Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) nuclear power plant concepts are described. It is concluded that some SMR and MMR concepts are likely to exhibit some or all of the Six Functional Requirements of rNPPs. Barriers to development and deployment of rCIIs and rNPPs are briefly summarized. Finally, a few recommendations for efforts that can refine our understanding of the efficacy of rNPPs and rCIIs, and enable their development and deployment, are offered.