This is a sequel to an earlier Asia Times article on small nuclear reactors.
The only small modular reactors (SMRs) currently in operation are in Russia (Akademik Lomonosov floating NPP) and China (HTR-PM high temperature gas cooled reactor), and the nuclear power plants soon to become reality are mostly traditional pressurized water reactor designs. However, the current situation is not simply a matter of same old, same old.
The good news is that many more SMRs are in the design stage. Currently, more than 80 commercial SMR designs are being developed around the world. Some of those designs are being developed by established nuclear companies, often with government support.
The bad news is that other designs are being proposed by start-up companies with an eye on the main chance but little technological expertise.
Many of these companies appear to be aiming to attract as much investment as possible by promising to deploy their schemes in the early 2030s—something that is almost certainly unachievable. Most companies give wildly optimistic timelines for construction and deployment, which are constantly being revised.
The designs on offer include a wide range of different reactor technologies, starting with those based on smaller versions of established pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs and moving on to the much more complex molten salt reactors, high-temperature gas-cooled reactors and fast neutron reactors. They target varied outputs and different applications, such as electricity, hybrid energy systems, heating, water desalinization and steam for industrial applications.
These technologies are promoted as feasible, flexible, cost-effective energy solutions with lower capital costs that are ideal partners for renewables. Their advantages are variously listed as ease of siting, reduced waste generation, increased safety and rapid construction.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a detailed report published in 2020, included details of 25 land-based water-cooled SMRs from 12 countries; six marine-based water-cooled SMRs from two countries (four from Russia and one from China); 11 high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) from eight countries; 11 fast neutron reactors(FNRs) from seven countries; 10 molten salt reactors (MSRs) being developed by six countries; and six microreactors (MMRs) from four countries.
Of the 69 reactors described, 36 were only in the pre-conceptual or conceptual design phase, while four were in the preliminary design stage.
The information was based on data supplied by the companies, and optimistically proposed construction or deployment dates did not hold up with the passage of time. For example, US X-energy’s Xe-100 envisaged the start of construction in 2025 but now says it aims to deploy its first advanced SMR by the early 2030s.
Similarly, in 2020 the timeline of ARC Clean Technology’s ARC-100 sodium-cooled fast reactor foresaw the first unit going into service in 2028. The ARC-100 was selected by New Brunswick Power for commercial demonstration on the company’s Point Lepreau site.
A deployment date of 2035 is now being suggested. However, Arc has just laid off staff, putting even that timeline in doubt. ARC said it “is re-aligning personnel and resources to strengthen our strategic partnerships and rationalize operations to best prepare for the next phase of our deployment.”
According to the IAEA report, US-based Terrestrial Energy expected to begin construction of its first full-scale integral molten salt reactor (IMSR) in Canada in the early 2020s.
That didn’t happen. Currently, the company says it hopes to develop IMSR fuel in the 2030s to support a fleet of IMSR plants.
US TerraPower’s Natrium—a combination of molten salt and FNR technology that claims to be “one of the fastest and lowest-cost paths to advanced, zero-carbon energy”—originally set a deployment date of 2028. However, Terrapower, chaired by Bill Gates, has since indicated a two-year delay due to problems with fuel development. Deployment, even in 2030, seems highly unlikely, despite the spin.
Basically, Natrium is a sodium-cooled fast reactor. Currently, the only commercially operating sodium-cooled fast reactors are in Russia. While research on fast reactors took place in the 1960s and 1970s in the US and Europe, things began to change in the late 1970s as concerns about scarce uranium resources waned and public opinion became increasingly hostile in the wake of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US and the Chernobyl disaster in Russia in 1986.
By the early 1990s the US, the UK and Germany had closed down their fast reactor programs. France continued for a few more years, finally closing its SuperPhenix in 1998 and Phenix in 2009 and in 2019 also canceled its ASTRID sodium-cooled fast reactor demonstrator design project.
Although interest is now reviving in Europe and the US, both through collaborative projects and government support for private company initiatives, it remains at the early design phase and is probably decades away from implementation.
Case study: the UK’s newcleo
A prime example of a start-up company promising rapid technological advancement is the UK-based Newcleo. Since its launch in 2021, it has been very active, signing a long list of agreements, acquisitions and collaborations but has produced very little technical information. Currently developing a small lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR), Newcleo claims the reactor design “has been optimized over the last 20 years” but provides no details.
In December 2023, newcleo said it had been selected as part of the “Innovative Nuclear Reactors” call for projects under the “France 2030” investment plan, and aimed to commission the LFR-30 by 2030, along with a pilot unit for the manufacture and multi-recycling of mixed oxide (mox) fuel for fast reactors.
Following the construction of the LFR-30 and mox plant in France, newcleo plans to construct a 200 MWe first-of-a-kind commercial unit (LFR-AS-200) in the UK by 2033.
Currently, LFR technology remains at the pre-conceptual stage except in Russia, which is constructing the world’s first lead-cooled small FNR (Brest-OD-300) as part of a facility to demonstrate an on-site closed fuel cycle, including novel fuel fabrication.
This reactor, based on decades of complex research and development, and supported by the entire Russian nuclear industry, is due to begin operation in 2029. By contrast, newcleo’s technology remains on the drawing board and construction of its LFR-30 by 2030 and the LFR-AS-200 by 2033 would be little short of miraculous.
Nevertheless, newcleo has been very busy commercially. Following an initial capital raise of $118 million and the acquisition of Hydromine Nuclear Energy, it closed a 300 million euro ($331 million) equity raise in June 2022 and contracted France’s Orano to prepare feasibility studies for a mox production plant.
In March 2023, newcleo signed a cooperation agreement with Italy’s Enel to work jointly on nuclear technology projects. The pact included newcleo’s agreement to secure an option for Enel as an investor in its first NPP.
Another equity raise of up to 1 billion euro followed, and in July 2023 newcleo agreed with Italy-based shipbuilder Fincantieri and certification multinational RINA to study nuclear applications for shipping.
The following August, newcleo agreed to purchase the shares of French nuclear pumps group Pompes Rütschi and Rütschi Fluid, and in September, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory for collaboration on advanced nuclear R&D.
October 2023 saw newcleo sign a cooperation agreement with Italy’s Tosto Group, a manufacturer of equipment for the chemicals, oil and gas and energy sectors. The UK company also completed acquisition of Italy-based Servizi Ricerche e Sviluppo and of Fucina Italia, which focus on the development of nuclear systems deploying liquid lead technology.
In November a five-year partnership was signed with the London School of Economics & Political Science to conduct advanced research into the economics of energy policy. In December 2023, newcleo signed three strategic partnerships at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris with Assystem, Ingérop and Onet Technologies to develop technology in France.
In January 2024, a strategic and industrial partnership with French micro-reactor start-up Naarea was signed to support the development of Generation IV FNRs. This came a few days after an agreement with Italy-based MAIRE subsidiaries, NextChem Tech and Tecnimont, to use newcleo’s reactors to decarbonize the chemical industry.
In March 2024 a strategic partnership was launched with Viaro Energy, a London-based independent upstream energy company. The partnership targets the future deployment of Advanced Modular Reactors to support the decarbonization of the oil and gas sector.
Following feasibility studies, the companies aim to jointly deploy newcleo’s 200MWe LFR “at chosen sites within Viaro’s portfolio.” Viaro also directly invested in newcleo by acquiring shares in its latest capital raise.
In April 2024, a partnership agreement was signed with the French Alternative Energies & Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) to develop Newcleo’s LFR.
The Nuclear Industry Association, the UK’s nuclear trade association, recently applied for a justification decision for Newcleo’s LFR-AS-200.
This is a regulatory process requiring a government decision before any new class or type of practice involving ionizing radiation can be introduced in the UK. However, it is a precursor to future regulatory processes and not a permit for a specific project to go ahead.
Nevertheless, Stefano Buono, newcleo’s CEO, said this was “an important milestone in our development program and a vital step forward in our delivery plan for the UK.” Newcleo clearly has big ideas. Buono added: “We continue to progress our UK plans at pace – aiming to deliver our first-of-a-kind commercial reactor in the UK by 2033.”
When investment trumps tech development
Since 2020, when IAEA published its SMR book, a myriad of new companies similar to newcleo have appeared. Some of these are spin-offs from established research institutions such as:
- Blue Capsule (spun out of the French Alternative Energies & Atomic Energy Commission),
- Steady Energy (spun out of Finland’s VTT Technical Research Centre) and
- Thorizon (spun out of Netherlands research institute NRG).
Some have formed collaborations with established energy companies and/or received grants from governmental organizations such as the France 2030 National Investment Plan, Great British Nuclear and the US Department of Energy.
But regardless, they have all had to focus a lot of attention on winning this support and chasing private investment to the detriment of developing their technologies. While a lot of effort is put into producing designs to attract funding, very few projects have progressed beyond the design stage. A shining example of this phenomenon is newcleo.
It is surely no coincidence that the only operating SMRs are in Russia and China, where there is strong state support for technological development and no expectation of a quick profit. To develop new and especially complex advanced technologies, it is necessary to take the long view.
Russia began developing its floating NPP in 2009 and persisted despite serious economic and technical challenges. The project had input from a large number of prominent research institutes and design bureaus.
The new start-up companies in Europe and the US, by contrast, have to operate in a commercial environment where even governments expect a return on their investments. Hardly surprising, then, that many lose focus.
Hardly surprising, then, that many lose focus.