Webinar 55: Evaluating Changing Paradigms Across the Nuclear Industry

Описание: This webinar was held on: July 27, 2021

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Dr. Lovering’s recent work focuses on microreactors (SMRs less than 10MWe), trying to understand the pathways to commercialization and economic competitiveness. To understand their potential, a techno-economic evaluation of microreactors for off-grid and community microgrid applications was first performed. The results indicate that microreactors can be cheaper and more reliable compared with 100% renewables systems, and they can also be cost-competitive with diesel where fuel costs are greater than $1/liter and the microreactor capital cost is less than $15,000/kW. However, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for microreactors is most sensitive to the initial capital cost, and whether this technology will ever move beyond niche markets will depend on the learning effects accrued through factory fabrication. Therefore, the hypothetical trade-offs between economies of scale and economies of volume for potential factory-fabricated microreactors are also examined. The breakeven volumes necessary for microreactors to become cost-competitive with large reactors and with fossil fuels, using parameters from historic nuclear builds and analogous energy technologies are calculated. Drawing from the literature on learning rates across energy technologies, potential learning rates for various sized microreactors based on historical relations are predicted.