Large Reactors vs SMRs

Miliband urged by US nuclear giant to abandon large reactors in favour of mini-nukes. GE-Hitachi Nuclear boss says investors have ‘scars’ from large projects’ cost overruns. An American nuclear power giant has urged Ed Miliband to focus on building a new generation of mini reactors instead of vast megaprojects such as Hinkley Point C. Andrew Champ, the UK country director for GE-Hitachi Nuclear, said small modular reactors (SMRs) offered “the best route” to expanding Britain’s nuclear capacity as the Energy Secretary draws up plans to overhaul the power grid. By comparison, many investors have “scars” from budget overruns and delays with bigger nuclear projects and view them as too risky, he claimed. Mr Champ pointed to the large cost of Hinkley Point C in Somerset as an example. The project’s budget has ballooned from £20bn to as much as £46bn when inflation is included. His comments come as the Government is reconsidering proposals to build a large-scale nuclear power station in Wylfa, a taxpayer-owned site on the Welsh island of Anglesey. GE-Hitachi, which also builds larger-scale reactors, is among those currently trying to commercialise SMR technology and is vying to secure funding from the UK under the Government’s current mini-nuke development competition. SMRs have been hailed as a potential breakthrough for nuclear power because they would be built in chunks by factories and then assembled rapidly on site, potentially meaning they can benefit from economies of scale. So far the technology remains unproven on a commercial basis and no such reactors are in operation. He also said the UK’s current target to build out 24 gigawatts of nuclear capacity was likely to prove too conservative, partly due to the huge growth in power demand from data centres being used to develop artificial intelligence software.