Economic features of integral, modular, small-to-medium size reactors

By M. Carelli, Paola Garrone, Giorgio Locatelli, Mauro Mancini, C. W. Mycoff, Paolo Trucco, M. Ricotti. 2010

206 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The renewed interest towards nuclear energy is largely based on the escalation of fossil fuels prices and the global warming concerns. The nuclear option has to face not only the public opinion sensibility, mainly related to plant safety and waste disposal issues, but also the economic evaluation from investors and utilities, particularly careful on that energy source and in deregulated markets. Smaller size nuclear reactors (IAEA defines as “small” those reactors with power<300 MWe and “medium” with power<700 MWe) can represent a viable solution for both the stakeholders, especially for developing countries, or countries with not-highly-infrastructured and interconnected grids, or even for developed countries when limitation on capital at risk applies. A description of Small-Medium size Reactor (SMR) economic features is presented, in a comparison with the state-of-the-art Large size Reactors. A preliminary evaluation of the capital and O&M costs shows that the negative effects of the economies of scale can be balanced by the integral and modular design strategy of SMRs.

Subfields: Aerospace Engineering, Economics and Econometrics, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/225eaea0b20821cfb56c2ded3d27487113f69e7c

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Aerospace Engineering

1. Giorgio Locatelli
2. I. Kessides
3. C. Bingham
4. Mauro Mancini
5. Edward S. Rubin

In Economics and Econometrics

1. Sonia Yeh
2. I. Kessides
3. Inês Lima Azevedo
4. P. Jaramillo
5. Edward S. Rubin
6. Lutz Sager

In Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

1. I. Kessides
2. Inês Lima Azevedo
3. P. Jaramillo
4. Sonia Yeh
5. Edward S. Rubin
6. Lutz Sager

Citations in the corpus

• A review of learning rates for electricity supply technologies (2015, background): “These include promised cost reductions from factory fabrication, modular construction, and various other factors (see for instance, Carelli et al. (2010), van den Broek et al. (2009), Abdulla et al. (2013)).”
• The Future of the Nuclear Industry Reconsidered: Risks, Uncertainties, and Continued Potential (2012, background): “These characteristics include (Carelli et al, 2010; Kuznetsov, 2010): Reduced construction duration.”
• Small modular reactors: A comprehensive overview of their economics and strategic aspects (2014, background): “The most important factors are (The Economic Modeling Working Group Of the Generation IV International Forum, 2007; Carelli et al., 2010).”