PROMISE OF BEING SAFE

Over 17 countries are trying to develop miniature plants to offset the safety concerns of nuclear energy

NUCLEAR POWER has always been a tricky energy source. While countries are betting on it to transition out of fossil fuels by 2030, they are scared of it because of safety issues. Currently responsible for less than 10 per cent of the world’s electricity generation, nuclear power plants have already reported three major disasters—Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.

In order to address the safety concerns, over 17 countries, including the US, China, Russia, and Canada, are trying to develop small modular reactors, or SMRs. There are over 70 commercial SMR designs that are at different stages of development. The manufacturers claim their designs are going to be safe and cheap, and can be mass-produced in a factory. With a power capacity of up to 300 megawatt (MW) per plant, they constitute about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors. The global market for SMRs is expected to be worth US $300 billion a year by 2040, according to the World Economic Forum.

SMRs are being explored as an energy source in other sectors. For instance, they could potentially reduce the carbon footprint of the shipping industry, which emits more than one billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. The naval force already uses nuclear energy for propulsion. India’s Arihant class of submarines is one example. SMRs could also produce hydrogen. Over 95 per cent of hydrogen comes from fossil fuels. A US-based startup uses its 250 MW thermal (MWt) nuclear module to split water to make 2,053 kg of hydrogen per hour, or nearly 50 tonnes per day.

While the industry is optimistic, experts are treading with caution. “It is not possible to make a broad conclusion,” says Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the international non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists. The safety and security risks will depend on the technologies, the designs, and how they are located, constructed, and operated. Lyman says that SMRs are not likely to be cost-effective. He recently released a report on nuclear power in which he shows SMRs will cost twice as much as conventional energy. “SMR advocates the claim that the overall cost can be offset through mass production and modular construction, but there is little evidence to support this claim,” he says.

In India, SMRs are likely to play only a marginal role in providing electricity. This is because the country has to contend with a much more significant challenge: fulfilling the country’s energy needs in a net-zero context, says Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India.

India’s focus is currently on large reactors. In December 2021, Union Minister of Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh announced that by 2024, India would have nine nuclear reactors plus 12 additional ones approved earlier. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is conducting research and development work on SMRs, says Kakodkar. If India decides to instal small modular reactors, they should be built indigenously to make them affordable, he adds.