atw 2019-03

atw Vol. 64 (2019) | Issue 3 ı March
128
Why UK Is Banking on SMRs
as the Future of Nuclear
INSIDE NUCLEAR WITH NUCNET
Vincent Zabielski is a
specialist nuclear
lawyer at Londonbased
law firm
Pillsbury, focusing on
international nuclear
energy matters,
including advice
related to new-build
EPC contracts, power
purchase agreements,
operation and maintenance,
fuel supply
chain, liability issues,
and export controls.
Before joining
Pillsbury, he was
senior nuclear counsel
for the United Arab
Emirates’ nuclear new
build programme,
where he was
responsible for
integration of nuclear
licensing strategy
with the largest-ever
public financing of a
public works project.
The UK is making significant investment in the development of small modular reactors and, despite
­challenges, could have its first unit up and running in the early 2030s, says London-based nuclear lawyer
Vincent Zabielski.
Small modular reactors (SMR) promise to bring
nuclear power to the masses, revolutionising
the nuclear power industry by making its production
increasingly affordable and available to a far wider market.
SMRs are standardised products that are made on a
factory production line, rather than bespoke machines
that are constructed onsite one at a time. Mass production
will ensure consistency in quality and drive down unit
costs, compared to traditional, one-off, and complex large
reactor designs.
SMR components will be much cheaper to transport
than those used in traditional large reactors. SMR reactor
plant and supporting components are all compact enough
to be transported from factory to construction site by boat,
lorry or railway; unlike the huge transporters and road
closures that are required for larger conventional plants.
These designs are also much safer: the smaller reactor
cores, simpler systems, and reliance on built-in passive
safety features all mean that the size of the emergency
planning zone can be reduced to the boundary of the plant,
in contrast to the “plume exposure pathway”, which is up
to 16 km, for traditional large nuclear plants.
In countries with a smaller electrical grid, for example
sub-Saharan Africa and the polar north, SMRs offer
advantages for ensuring grid stability. Their power can be
delivered in bite-sized morsels to the wider grid, resulting
in a stable and incremental expansion of the grid as
demand increases.
SMRs are also much less demanding in terms of siting
as they do not require the same large, low-population
zones as traditional reactors.
Safety improvements aside, the largest economic
advantage of modular design is the great reduction in
­construction risk. Thanks to an SMR’s factory construction,
the site hosting it can be prepared before it arrives,
minimising expensive contract variations. This reduction
in construction risk should mean that budgets and timelines
will be met more reliably.
The UK is easily the most progressive western country
when it comes to nuclear power. The government is taking
steps in the right direction with significant investment in
SMRs, including a fund of up to £20m for supply chain
­development, £7m for regulatory readiness, and up to
£44m in an advanced modular reactor feasibility and
­development project. In June 2018, the Department for
Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy issued its ambitious
nuclear sector deal policy paper. This paper presents plans
for cooperation between the government and the civilian
sector. Those plans include a 30 % reduction in the cost of
new-build projects by 2030; lower generation costs and a
20 % reduction in decommissioning costs to the taxpayer;
and a more competitive supply chain, with more UK
companies using advanced manufacturing methods and
entering domestic and export markets for nuclear goods
and services.
As part of the nuclear sector deal, the government will
set out a framework to support the development and
deployment of SMRs and the technologies that support
them.
The UK nuclear regulatory framework is goal-based
rather than prescriptive, which makes the UK particularly
attractive for deploying SMRs. While nuclear reactor
vendors are required to demonstrate their safety case to
the Office of Nuclear Regulation, the regulations do not
prescribe any particular design solution. In other words,
the ONR requires that SMRs be safe, but it doesn’t tell the
manufacturer how to make them safe – that is the job of
the designer.
As for cost, the current market for nuclear power is
largely limited to wealthy buyers with deep pockets. But,
thanks to its small and modular design, the production
time, introduction period and safety management of SMRs
are all considerably reduced. With this in mind, the cost of
implementing this technology into global power grids
should be significantly lower than traditional large
reactors.
The other positive news is that development of SMRs in
the UK should not be disproportionately impacted by
Brexit and withdrawal from the Euratom treaty. In the very
near term, the UK will need to establish bilateral nuclear
cooperation treaties with major supplier countries in the
EU and elsewhere, but it has already begun to do this.
Western powers, such as Canada, France and the US,
are developing SMRs. There are also promising new
designs from China, Russia, and Japan. However, it seems
that the UK is the most likely to make the greatest strides in
SMR development, given the government’s support of
nuclear.
Realistically, the earliest an SMR will be operational in
the UK is probably the early 2030s. That may seem a long
time, but there is a lot that needs to happen between now
and commercial operation.
Supply chains will need to be developed, ONR generic
design assessments will need to be completed, the SMR
manufacturing facility will need to be designed and built,
and a site will need to be identified and prepared to accept
the SMR. All of this takes time, but if the government holds
its current course, all of these challenges can be overcome.
Vincent Zabielski
Inside Nuclear with NucNet
Why UK Is Banking on SMRs as the Future of Nuclear