Science Business
Summary
The European Commission this week opened a call for industry partners to join a new alliance to advance the development and deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs).
The move is part of the Commission’s 2050 climate neutrality objective and follows its recent declaration that all technologies will be needed to reach that goal.
The EU’s industrial alliances do not benefit from any direct funding. “Whilst the alliance itself does not have a budget, it does create a framework that will facilitate the deployment of SMRs by streamlining stakeholders: industry and decision makers,” a spokeswoman for trade association Nucleareurope told Science|Business.
Small-scale nuclear power stations are billed as being safer and cheaper than conventional reactors and should be quicker to build because of standardised designs that can be manufactured at scale and shipped to the site.
The technology is still largely unproven, but several projects are planned around the world. US company NuScale Power has an agreement with Romania’s Nuclearelectrica to build a cluster of six SMRs on the site of a former coal plant, which could be deployed in 2029. Those plans are part of Project Phoenix, a US plan to replace coal-fired power plants with SMRs, with projects in Czechia, Slovakia and Poland also in line to receive support for feasibility studies.
China is also a frontrunner, and in 2021 began construction work on the Linglong One plant, which is expected to enter commercial operation by the end of 2026.
European countries remain divided over nuclear energy, but advocates say SMRs could be used in areas such as district heating, industry, and hydrogen production, where other low-carbon alternatives are not viable.
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