Small Modular Reactors: Licensing constraints and the way forward

Sainati, Tristano; Locatelli, Giorgio; Brookes, Naomi

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2014.12.079

Cited by 33 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Table 7 gives an account for the US and European scenario. For instance, in the case of nuclear PPs in the USA, the review of each combined license application (WNA, 2012) lasts about 3 years or more (Sainati et al, 2015).…”

Section: Modelling Ttm and Compound Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appraisal of small modular nuclear reactors with ‘real options’ valuation

Locatelli

Pecoraro

Meroni³

et al. 2017

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Energy

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2 3 4Small modular nuclear reactors have the advantage of flexibility in deployment and shorter construction time compared with large reactors. Investment appraisals in the energy sector are traditionally based on discounted cash flow, but this tends to underestimate the value of management flexibility during the decision-making process. The 'real options' valuation method can better support an investment appraisal. This paper, leveraging the real options approach, gives an account of two key strategic aspects to support the decision-making process in building small modular reactors: the time to market with the relative stage-gate process and the effect of a new plant on the existing portfolio. This paper assesses small modular reactors against other base-load power plants and, once applied to the UK scenario, it shows the superior performance of small modular reactors.differential coefficient' of a linear exercise threshold dp differential price dz differential Wiener process e Euler's number E expected ECTC t expected cost to complete the construction at time t ECTC threshold expected cost to complete the construction threshold ECTD t expected cost to complete the design at time t ECTD threshold expected cost to complete the design threshold G* gas price triggering the investment G 0 gas price at the time now G t gas price at time t I is the investment rate K remaining cost,'multiplication factor' of a linear exercise threshold P* price triggering the investment P 0 price at the time now P LB lower bound price P lim price limit P SR sharpe ratio price

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Section: Modelling Ttm and Compound Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appraisal of small modular nuclear reactors with ‘real options’ valuation

Locatelli

Pecoraro

Meroni³

et al. 2017

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Energy

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Most small modular reactors have technical features that make them different from currently deployed large (>1000 MWe) commercial light water reactors. Licensing small modular light water reactors with new features, such as passive cooling, is challenging and in most countries associated with increased costs for the licensing procedure and uncertainties regarding the outcome of the licensing process [119,120]. NuScale's present attempts to license their small modular reactor design in the U.S. may be a good example of this [121,122].…”

Section: Identified Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing

et al. 2018

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A number of primary ores such as phosphate rock, gold-, copper-and rare earth ores contain considerable amounts of accompanying uranium and other critical materials. Energy neutral mineral processing is the extraction of unconventional uranium during primary ore processing to use it, after enrichment and fuel production, to generate greenhouse gas lean energy in a nuclear reactor. Energy neutrality is reached if the energy produced from the extracted uranium is equal to or larger than the energy required for primary ore processing, uranium extraction, -conversion, -enrichment and -fuel production. This work discusses the sustainability of energy neutral mineral processing and provides an overview of the current progress of a multinational research project on that topic conducted under the umbrella of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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“…The construction of a single large reactor of GWe scale is a very risky single investment decision (Locatelli & Mancini 2012b;Locatelli et al 2016) while the construction of four SMR with a fractional capacity can be a safer option from a financial perspective. Conversely, the Nuclear Safety Regulation plays a key role that might potentially undermine the business case (Sainati et al 2015). Therefore, a holistic assessment is needed to select the best type of nuclear reactor (Locatelli & Mancini 2012a) or base load technology (Locatelli & Mancini 2010).…”

Section: The Key Idea: Load Following By Cogenerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some provisions, especially regarding the 60 years of continuous energy supply from the NPP, seem optimistic. In the case of less operation time on a site, NPPs capable of moving from one site to another would be required, and this would recall into question the investment and would have serious licensing implications (Ramana et al 2013;Sainati et al 2015). This option is therefore extremely controversial.…”

Section: Shale Oil Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cogeneration: An option to facilitate load following in Small Modular Reactors

Locatelli

Fiordaliso

Boarin

et al. 2017

Progress in Nuclear Energy

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Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) have been historically deployed to cover the base-load of the electricity demand. Nowadays some NPPs might perform daily load cycling operation (i.e. load following) between 50% and 100% of their rated power. With respect to the insertion of control rods or comparable action to reduce the nuclear power generation, a more L F C of power, respect to the electricity demand, to an auxiliary system. A suitable cogeneration system needs:1. To have a demand of electricity and/or heat in the region of 500 MWt 1 GWt;2. To meet a significant market demand;3. To have access to adequate input to process; 4. To be flexible: cogeneration might operate at full load during the night when the request (of) for electricity is low, and be turned off during the daytime.From the economic standpoint, it is essential that the investment in the auxiliary system is profitable. This paper provides a techno-economic assessment of systems suitable for coupling with a NPP for load following. The results show that district heating, desalination and hydrogen might be technically and economically feasible.

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Small Modular Reactors: Licensing constraints and the way forward

Cited by 33 publications

References 19 publications

Appraisal of small modular nuclear reactors with ‘real options’ valuation

Appraisal of small modular nuclear reactors with ‘real options’ valuation

On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing

Cogeneration: An option to facilitate load following in Small Modular Reactors

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