nuclear-news

Security planning for small modular reactors ‘not where it should be’, academic says.

28 Nov, 2024 By Tom Pashby

The security planning for the forthcoming wave of small modular reactor (SMR) developments in the UK is “not where it should be” according to an academic who supports the industry.
 SMRs have risen up the agenda with Great British Nuclear’s (GBN) competition for developers to get access to government support for deployment making progress, as well as other novel
nuclear energy companies like Last Energy UK saying it will deploy
micro-reactors in Wales by 2027.

Big technology companies like Google,
Amazon and Oracle have said they want SMRs to power their AI data centres,
to overcome grid power constraints.

And in the UK, the Civil nuclear:
roadmap to 2050 stated: “To deliver energy security while driving down
costs our long-term ambition is the deployment of fleets of SMRs in the
UK.” Proponents of SMRs, such as big tech companies, want them because of
the additional flexibility they offer in location. They don’t need to be
built far away from people because of their size, or near water because
SMRs can be air-cooled.

This opens up questions about appropriate security
arrangements, because traditional gigawatt-scale nuclear sites in the UK
benefit from having long sight lines and layers of physical security such
as fences, patrol paths and armed guards.

 New Civil Engineer 28th Nov 2024 https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/security-planning-for-small-modular-reactors-not-where-it-should-be-academic-says-28-11-2024/

December 2, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, UK