Nuclear fantasies

[Oscar]

Nuclear fantasies

[ https://www.acadienouvelle.com/mon-opin ... ucleaires/ ]

by Susan O'Donnell, PhD January 26, 2021

I am reading the story "Small nuclear reactors, a lifeline for the N.B. economy?" with some amusement. The author Justin Dupuis has painted an interesting portrait of salesmen from nuclear industry start-up companies with wild fantasies. One is deciding if he should build his nuclear reactor factory near Saint John, or Dalhousie or Belledune. Really?

The article correctly notes that no company has yet succeeded in bringing an SMR to the market. In fact, the most advanced SMR is the NuScale design in the US. So far, the NuScale design has cost more than $1.5 billion and taken more than 15 years. The expected cost [ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN25T30E ] of building the NuScale nuclear reactor, estimated at $3.7 billion in 2017, rose to $6.1 billion in 2020. The plans were recently delayed for another three years and client communities are pulling out of the project. [ https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/11 ... ower-plant ]

The big engineering challenge is that the SMRs will, like all nuclear reactors, create deadly radioactive elements that must be safely contained. Since the multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns at Fukushima in Japan ten years ago, the technical, safety, and security requirements have become increasingly complex and costly for new nuclear reactor builds.

The two New Brunswick companies will need at least $2 billion each to build their first prototype, and nobody knows where the money will come from. Minister Holland [ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brun ... -1.5828784 ] has said the money must come from the private sector, but private investors are willing to contribute only a small fraction of what will be needed because of the financial risk. The nuclear companies want taxpayers to contribute the billions that will be needed but they face considerable opposition.

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