Advanced Nuclear Technologies (otherwise known as small nuclear or small reactor technologies) encompass a wide range of nuclear reactor technologies under development. The technologies share common attributes: smaller than conventional nuclear power station reactors; designed so that much of the plant can be fabricated in a factory environment and transported to site, reducing construction risk and making them less capital-intensive. Generally advanced nuclear technologies fall into one of 2 groups: Generation III water-cooled Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), similar to existing nuclear power station reactors but on a smaller scale; Generation IV and beyond Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs), which use novel cooling systems or fuels to offer new functionality (such as industrial process heat) and potentially a step change reduction in costs. There is a large variety of potential technologies within these groups which span technology types from conventional water-cooled reactors, to Generation IV reactors using novel fuels and coolants, as well as fusion reactor concepts. Given this breadth, government believes that “SMR”, as commonly understood, is too narrow a description for technologies coming forward after the current generation of nuclear power stations. Instead government considers this to be the “Advanced Nuclear” market.
BEIS 25th July 2019 read more »
The Urenco-led U-Battery consortium has completed the first stage of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ (CNL) invitation to site a first-of-a-kind small modular reactor (SMR) at the Chalk River site. It is the fourth reactor design to do so.
World Nuclear News 30th July 2019 read more »