Sunday, August 14, 2022

Nuscale's SMR reactors get much more expensive

SMR stands for Small Modular Reactor, and the argument was that because all the parts can be built on an assembly line in a factory, SMRs should produce much cheaper electricity than the giants we have tended to build so far.  Unfortunately, estimated costs have more than doubled in 5 years.


From a tweet by @NuclearEngnrng



Estimated cost of NuScale 12-pack SMR is $6.1B in 2020, was $3.6B in 2017.

Estimated cost of NuScale 6-pack is $5.3B in 2022.

HT for chart: @ecopolitain


The chart doesn't estimate the LCOE, but in 2017 Nuscale estimated it at below $60/MWh. Estimated costs have doubled, so that suggests $120/MWh now.  That may still be acceptable if nuclear turned out to be necessary for the last 10% of de-carbonisation of the grid.

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