Atomic Renaissance Stalls as NuScale Cancels Small-Reactor Project - Bloomberg
Atomic Renaissance Takes a Hit as NuScale Cancels Small-Reactor Project - Bloomberg
Atomic Renaissance Stalls as NuScale Cancels Small-Reactor Project
The promise offered by SMRs couldn’t overcome the delays, rising prices for steel and higher interest rates that also plague bigger nuclear plants.
New fuel rods covered with wrapping at a CEZ AS nuclear plant in the Czech Republic. Photographer: Martin Divisek
Welcome to Energy Daily, our guide to the energy and commodities markets powering the global economy. Today, reporter Will Wade assesses the fallout from NuScale Energy’s expensive decision to cancel its SMR project. To learn how climate change will test Tokyo’s flood defenses, read this. To get this newsletter sent straight to your inbox, you can sign up here.
Nuclear power is emission-free but complex, expensive and politically fraught. In recent years, small modular reactors have been touted as the answer to those problems. In the US, NuScale Energy Corp. has been at the vanguard of efforts to build viable SMRs.
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Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: nuclear
Nuclear energy provides almost 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. Advocates have called for an expanded role for nuclear as an emissions-free fuel source. But the economics of building new reactors are daunting. In addition, lingering safety concerns are an institutionalized part of the calculation of nuclear regulation, and highly radioactive nuclear waste remains a can that public officials have been inclined to kick down the road. The Energy Information Administration projects a sharp decline in nuclear power generation over the next decade, as new nuclear plants — two are planned — are more than offset by anticipated retirements of several operating reactors.