IEEE Spectrum May, 2015 - 46

Fermi-i * Newport, mich.
The eNrico f erMi aToMic P ower
P laNT, UN iT 1, waS aN ea rly S Ma ll
NUclea r reacTo r co N ST rUcTed
wiTh f UNdiN g fro M The U.S. aToMic
eN ergy co M MiSS io N. iT reac hed
cri Tica liTy iN 1963 a Nd oP eraTe d
UNTil 1972, deSP iTe S Uf f eriN g
a Pa rTia l MelTdowN iN 1966.

Although concerns about climate change have led energy
planners to retain nuclear power as an option, the technology remains in stasis or decline throughout the Americas and
Europe. Two new nuclear projects now under way in the United
States were the first to be awarded construction licenses in
the country since the late 1970s. Globally, nuclear power produced about 11 percent of all electricity in 2013, down from its
high of 17.6 percent in 1996, according to data from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2014. In the United States, the
number of operating nuclear power plants has slipped below
100, with the recent shutdown of the Vermont Yankee plant.
A fundamental reason for this decline is indeed economic. Compared with other types of electricity generation, nuclear power is expensive. According to a 2014 report
by the Wall Street advisory firm Lazard, the cost of generating a megawatt-hour of electricity from a new nuclear reactor (without considering government subsidies, including
those for liability for severe accidents) is between US $92
and $132. Compare that with $61 to $87 for a natural-gas
combined-cycle plant, $37 to $81 for wind turbines, and
$72 to $86 for utility-scale solar. Nuclear's high costs result
46

may 2015

north american

SPectrUm.ieee.orG

directly from the very high costs of building a reactor-
estimated by Lazard at $5.4 million to $8.3 million for each
megawatt. These per-megawatt costs translate into billions
of dollars. For example, the latest estimate for one of the two
U.S. projects mentioned above-a pair of 1,117-MW reactors
being built near Jenkinsville, S.C.-is $11 billion.
These costs were acknowledged in a 2012 brochure for an
industry conference devoted to what are called small modular
reactors (SMRs). Noting the "huge billion dollar challenges"
posed by traditional nuclear plants, the brochure declared
that "Small Modular Reactors are the perfect solution to this
problem by mitigating billions in financial risk, growing
incrementally with power demand and offering shorter and
easier construction schedules.... The SMR market is global
and extremely vast.... In short the power industry is crying
out for commercial SMR projects throughout the world."
If it is, the power industry is likely to be disappointed.
Small reactors, in fact, date back to the earliest days of atomic
power, and this long history shouldn't be overlooked as
vendors tout new generations of the technology. As the history makes clear, small nuclear reactors would be neither

Previous Pages: Left: u.s. Navy/NatioNaL scieNce fouNdatioN (2);
right: u.s. Navy seabee MuseuM. this Page: everett coLLectioN/aLaMy

tantalizing proposition has taken hold again in the nuclear industry:
that small nuclear reactors have economic and other advantages over
the standard-size ones being built today. The idea is that by reducing the
substantial financial risk of a full-scale nuclear project, small reactors are
the best option for kick-starting a much-discussed revival of nuclear power.

http://SPectrUm.ieee.orG

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum May, 2015