this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2024
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Off the Siberian coast, not far from Alaska, a Russian ship has been docked at port for four years. The Akademik Lomonosov, the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, sends energy to around 200,000 people on land using next-wave nuclear technology: small modular reactors.

This technology is also being used below sea level. Dozens of US submarines lurking in the depths of the world’s oceans are propelled by SMRs, as the compact reactors are known.

SMRs — which are smaller and less costly to build than traditional, large-scale reactors — are fast becoming the next great hope for a nuclear renaissance as the world scrambles to cut fossil fuels. And the US, Russia and China are battling for dominance to build and sell them.

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[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 39 points 9 months ago (7 children)

One of the less widely discussed issues with nuclear is that the bigger plants are all somewhat unique in their engineering particulars, which makes it more costly to maintain them. SMRs can be more readily standardised, which is expected to improve their economics as well as their cost to maintain.

[–] Alerian@lemmy.ml 9 points 9 months ago

This is only partially true, France for example has standardized its reactors in the past, with a lot of success, and is planning to do it again for the new projects which are planned in the 2030s. Now it was done in the past with little care for local populations and so on, so we'll see how it goes. What is true though is that standardization also makes sense when there is a repetitive market foreseen. New nuclear project tend to be announced in small numbers, due to the difficulty of investing so much capital at a time, which makes standardization difficult. Smaller reactors may help, but I remain sceptical with the tech.

[–] Neato@ttrpg.network 4 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Can we not standardize the big ones? Their only dependent factor is a big enough water source for cooling, right? Everything else is just land space and supplies.

[–] thegreekgeek@midwest.social 6 points 9 months ago

I think the scale of the projects and the amount of time it takes to build gives people time to work things in to the plans. I also imagine it's affected by the local supply chain.

That being said I'm more on the fence about them after reading about some of the challenges involved in making them economical. Can you imagine a factory recall on a reactor part? And that's not even talking about nuclear waste disposal which we still haven't figured out reliably beyond "stick it over there and hopefully it won't be a problem for a few hundred years."

[–] BuddyTheBeefalo@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago

They also depend on a final nuclear disposal site.

[–] Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

The construction projects themselves also typically require upgrades to local infrastructure. I live near the failed nuclear project in SC and they had to upgrade rail infrastructure near my town, they had to build multiple new bridges over the railroad because the clearance wasn't high enough for some of the prefabricated components that had to be transported to the site by rail, etc.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 months ago

Yes and no. Currently the rules around nuclear plants are so strict that each installation becomes bespoke, because small changes that are the reality of construction need to get reapproved.

If regulatory bodies were more open to approving acceptable ranges, or being proactive in the design process we could have more standardized designs.

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[–] tunetardis@lemmy.ca 22 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I've been following the situation in Canada. Afaik the closest we are to getting SMRs is a plan to supplement power production at the Darlington, Ontario CANDU plant using SMRs of the GE Hitachi design. The utility is seeking regulatory approval on the first of 4, but they haven't broken ground yet to the best of my knowledge. Each would put out up to 300 Mw, so I guess the completed project would add 1.2 Gw to the grid.

Ontario gets around half its power from nuclear, and the current provincial government is gung-ho on building more capacity. While I am not opposed to the idea (they would need to build more anyway just to maintain that ratio in coming decades), the fact that it comes at the heels of them cancelling nearly every renewable energy project at the beginning of their term adds a sour note. These included those that were actually under construction, and tax money had to foot the bill on broken contracts. It was flabbergasting. I am cautiously optimistic about SMRs but they are still vapourware for the most part at this time.

[–] vividspecter@lemm.ee 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

It's a known tactic of the fossil fuel industry (and the politicians they own) to push SMRs as a delay tactic, so they can continue to make money from coal and gas for a bit longer. And conservative parties get to play culture war over it, which we know they love to do.

If something real comes out of it then great, but you can't plan an energy transition based on a technology that isn't proven yet.

[–] tunetardis@lemmy.ca 9 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Oh man, that is just depressing. I mean I wouldn't put it past them. It's like this whole business with carbon capture.

A couple of years ago, I was driving around the Permian Basin near Midland, Texas. I asked a local about all these gas flares you'd see. He said it's waste natural gas. They're drilling for oil, you see, so they just burn it off. When I looked incredulous, he added that it's better than simply venting it. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas! Well sure, but…

Let's just say it would take a lot to convince me at this point that the future is carbon capture.

[–] vividspecter@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

It’s like this whole business with carbon capture.

Yep, it's very similar to the CCS push from the 2000s. And you saw the Democratic party pushing it too, despite it fast becoming obvious that it's not viable.

[–] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's absolutely what's going on here. the whole "nuclear renaissance" is nothing but a smoke screen.

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 5 points 9 months ago

Yeah unless it's we all suddenly rush to build them and all the renewable options for padding the grid then, yeah. It's just a ruse to make it look like we are doing anything at all to make people feel better about flying private jets for a day trip to their favorite fishing pond. (Something I know a millionaire does personally)

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[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 12 points 9 months ago (2 children)

the world’s first floating nuclear power plant

That's a weird thing to say, considering we've had nuclear power plants inside submarines since 1958.

[–] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 5 points 9 months ago

Yeah, it's pretty common for subs/ships at Pearl harbor to supply power back to the Hawaiian grid in the case of a blackout.

It honestly could be done at any naval base, but most of them would not be able to meet the needs of the larger urban areas they dock at.

[–] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ah, but they're not floating. They're sinking, but controlled sinking.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 6 points 9 months ago

The special thing about submarines isn't that they can go underwater. It's that they can come back up.

[–] lemmylommy@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yes, Soviet/Russian technology, the posterchild for prudence and carefulness.

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[–] Sir_Osis_of_Liver@kbin.social 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The Akademik Lomonosov was supposed to cost the equivalent of $232M, but ended up somewhere north of $700M all for a net electrical output of 64MWe. In that respect, it follows a familiar path for nuclear projects.

On a cost/kW basis, it's about three times the cost of wind installations. ($3625/kW vs $1300/kW)

The last co-gen plant I worked on had an output of 353MWe and cost about $450M, which was about $50M under budget.

[–] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This misses one of the key points about smr's. They're supposed to be made in a factory. That ship is one unit and expensive as hell. If you make 100 or more of the same smr, you can amortize the tooling cost over many units. This also allows for configurable size stations. Right now, nuclear stations are one and done, custom jobs.

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[–] LanternEverywhere@kbin.social 3 points 9 months ago

When they say small, how small are we talking? The size of a sedan? A school bus?

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