More hype about Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), but  they may curb nuclear development .

Energy Revolutions by David Toke, 15 Sept 25

The amount of hype about SMR development seems to grow at inverse
proportion to the likelihood of real SMR deployment. We are now witnessing
a blast of PR about SMRs timed for the visit of Donald Trump to the UK. In
practice the imaginary SMR surge, which appears mostly in press releases
rather than real projects, may well signal a lack of development of nuclear
reactors in the West.

In an earlier post I discussed how so-called SMRs do
not exist as a concept. That is as a concept distinct from earlier attempts
to develop mainstream nuclear power using reactors that are smaller than
today’s mainstream projects. The nuclear industry gradually increased the
size of reactors to reduce costs per MW through capturing economies of
scale. Logic dictates that SMRs will be more, not less, costly than the
conventional contemporary nuclear projects.

However, SMRs could be more of
a burden for the nuclear industry than a boon. That is because instead of
building large conventional projects, small ones are being done ..
For example, in the USA the last completed nuclear reactor project, Vogtle
3&4, is around 2200 MW. Projected SMRs are in the 100-400MW range. The
policy drive for SMRs has recently been doubted by the former Chairman of
the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Alison Macfarlane. Her (co-authored
analysis) implies that nuclear waste problems from SMRs will be worse than
with conventional reactors. The paper also says that ‘many studies show
that the economics of SMRs will be much costlier than that of large LWRs,
thereby will not be competitive or profitable.’ https://davidtoke.substack.com/p/two-stories-1-how-smrs-may-curb-nuclear

September 20, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors