Small Modular Reactors

Small Modular Reactors and ‘Advanced’ or ‘Generation IV’ Reactor Concepts, 31-page FoE Australia briefing paper, June 2023

Small modular nuclear reactors: a history of failure (Nov. 2023 article)

PowerPoint — Small Modular Reactors (Nov. 2023)

2023 Directory of SMR projects (nuClearNews)

Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, Feb. 2022, ‘NuScale’s Small Modular Reactor: Risks of Rising Costs, Likely Delays, and Increasing Competition Cast Doubt on Long-Running Development Effort‘. Too late, too expensive, too risky and too uncertain.

Prof. M.V. Ramana, 2020, ‘Eyes Wide Shut: Problems with the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems Proposal to Construct NuScale Small Modular Nuclear Reactors‘.

Further research by Prof. MV Ramana on SMRs and see also Prof. Ramana’s university webpage.

Small nuclear reactors, huge costs, Oct. 2021 article in RenewEconomy

Exposing ‘small modular reactor’ economic misinformation from Ben Heard and other nuclear lobbyists (June 2020 article in RenewEconomy)

Small modular reactors and the nuclear culture wars, Aug 2019 article in RenewEconomy

Sept. 2019 – Australian environment groups’ submission to federal nuclear power inquiry (lots on nuclear economics, ‘generation IV’ concepts, small modular reactors etc).

Aug. 2019 – 65-page Friends of the Earth submission to federal nuclear inquiry, specifcally on ‘small modular reactors’

2019 Nuclear Monitor feature on SMRs:

Small modular reactors: an introduction and an obituary ‒ Small reactors: past and present ‒ Why the hype? ‒ Skepticism ‒ The SMR ‘hype cycle’ ‒ An obituary

The forgotten history of small nuclear reactors

SMR economics: an overview ‒ Fundamental problems ‒ Market size ‒ Costs per MWh ‒ Learning curve ‒ SMRs as ‘affordable luxuries’, diseconomies of scale ‒ Standardized modular rhetoric

SMR cost estimates, and costs of SMRs under construction

No-one wants to pay for SMRs: US and UK case studies

Are thousands of new nuclear generators in Canada’s future?

Small modular reactors and nuclear weapons proliferation ‒ Power/weapons connections ‒ The military origins of SMR programs ‒ Small reactors and proliferation ‒ SMRs as the proliferator’s technology of choice ‒ The proliferation risks associated with different SMR designs ‒ Uranium enrichment ‒ Plutonium reactors ‒ Safeguards and security

A military bromance: SMRs to support and cross-subsidize the UK nuclear weapons program

SMRs to power military installations and forward bases in the United States

SMR safety issues

Generation IV nuclear waste claims debunked

mPower: an obituary

High-temperature, gas-cooled zombie SMRs