“The “small” nuclear power plant is not immune to the setbacks of the “big” ones, like the French EPR”

2023-11-10 12:30:35

Emotion on the nuclear planet. While a good part of the future of this very low-carbon technology rests on the development of a new generation of small modular reactors, or SMRs (small modular reactors), cheaper and safer, the American champion in the field is coming to seriously trip. The company NuScale Power announced on Thursday, November 9, the abandonment of the project to install its first industrial-sized power plant in Idaho. However, the firm is the only one to have obtained approval from the authorities for the design of its machines, and the federal state has largely subsidized its research.

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But the customers are missing. NuScale Power had reached an agreement with a union which brings together around fifty electricity suppliers and municipalities in the American West. In total, the electricity supply contracts were to cover 80% of the costs to launch the operation by the end of the year. Alas, the local authorities did not rush and the project is very far from being financed, despite a guarantee of 1.4 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros) over ten years from the Federal Department of Energy.

Future customers were chilled by the recent announcement of an increase in costs, and therefore electricity sales prices, of more than 50% compared to what had been promised to them in 2021. Too long, too much expensive, they preferred to look elsewhere. The company therefore decided to throw in the towel.

Projects stuck at the design stage

“When your horse is dead, you must get off quickly”, admitted, stoically, the CEO of NuScale Power, John Hopkins. But he doesn’t want to say his technology is dead. He intends to continue his other projects, in particular the supply of his concept to Eastern European countries wishing to find an alternative to coal. In particular, he signed an agreement with the Romanian authorities for the construction of an installation on the site of the Doicesti coal power plant. Project largely financed by the United States.

This first setback shows that “small” nuclear power is not immune to the setbacks of “big” nuclear power, like the French EPR. To its advantage, NuScale Power promises a reactor with passive safety. There is no runaway if the machines stop. But its pressurized water technology remains the same as that of large existing installations such as the French EPR. He does not claim the breakdown of new generation reactors which promise to resolve the issue of waste by burning it. However, these dozens of projects around the world are only at the design stage, not even the industrial prototype, hoped for around 2030. The SMR revolution, and with it the rebirth of nuclear power, will therefore wait a little longer. .