Abstract
The Three Miles Island and Chernobyl nuclear accidents occurred in 1979 and 1986 respectively, stop all new construction of nuclear power reactors in the U.S. until today, as well as in Canada, where the last unit was connected to the grid in 1993. However, the construction of new units continued in Argentina, where the last unit was connected to the grid in 2014, and in Brazil where the last unit was connected to the grid in 2000. These two countries continued the construction of one unit in 2016. The new nuclear power reactors under construction in the region are mostly large units (more than 1000 MW), except for one SMR in Argentina the so-called “CAREM-25” with a capacity of 25 MW.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
A total of 137 units were built in the U.S., 25 units in Canada, four units in Argentina, three units in Brazil and two units in Mexico.
- 2.
Dramatic cost declines and corresponding growth in solar and wind energy are threatening to upend the economics of even the most cost efficient nuclear power plants. According to Bloomberg (2016), it expects wind and solar to become the cheapest ways of producing electricity in many countries during the 2020s and in most of the world in the 2030s. It sees onshore wind costs falling by 41% and solar PV costs dropping by 60% by 2040. Wind and solar will account for 64% of the 8.6 TW of new generating capacity added over the next 25 years, and for almost 60% of the $11.4 trillion invested, it says.
- 3.
The only SMR reactors under construction in 2014 were CAREM in Argentina, HTR-PM in China and the twin barge-mounted KLT-40S in Russia (Akademik Lomonosov), planned to be located near Vilyuchinsk (Carelli and Ingesoll 2015).
- 4.
For additional information of this type of nuclear power reactor see Chap. 2.
- 5.
Proposals for 30 new nuclear power reactors have been advanced by U.S. energy utilities in recent years; more than half of these have been withdrawn to date. A large nuclear power plant carries another big financial risk; what if there’s not enough demand for all that power? (Ferguson 2013).
- 6.
Bob Rosner, a nuclear energy expert at the University of Chicago, agreed that the price of a new nuclear plant—which can be around US$20 billion—is one that only a handful of energy companies can currently afford (Ferguson 2013). Actual information on large conventional nuclear power reactors under construction (in western countries) gives evidence of relevant time-schedule and cost overruns. It must be highlighted that this comparison applies on SMR versus large nuclear power plant expected costs. This means that capital cost overruns, which seem to systematically affect actual costs of large nuclear power plant projects, are not considered. When actual costs of construction are considered, it is expected that SMRs might have better control on construction schedule and costs, and higher probability to meet capital budgeting. The main assumption is that, the simpler the design, the easier the procurement, manufacturing and assembling process and the project management. Projected cost and the lead time of the new projects under construction in Europe or under construction in the U.S., have all been dramatically revised upwards, with a rate of increase per year of delay in the plant commissioning in excess of 20% (Carelli and Ingesoll 2015).
- 7.
There are four integral pressurised water SMRs now under development in the U.S.: Babcock & Wilcox’s mPower; NuScale; SMR-160; and the Westinghouse SMR. It is projected that around the year 2035, China will have surpassed America in nuclear energy consumption. According to Kurth (2013), China is projected to have increased its nuclear energy consumption over 800 billion kWh by 2035, equivalent to the entire current output of American nuclear power. In 2015, the U.S. nuclear electricity generated by its nuclear power plants reached 797,178.00 GWh or 19.5% of the total electricity generated by the country in that year (IAEA-PRIS 2016).
- 8.
U.S. designed SMRs have considered the issues of transporting large reactor components between factory and site. But they do not appear to have considered offsite manufacture and transport of the rest of the plant so thoroughly. Also, the transport system in the U.S. with its many wide rivers and generous gauge rail systems is not replicated elsewhere. If SMRs are to access wider global markets, then other transport considerations need to be assessed (Roulstone 2015).
- 9.
In the case of the international market it is important to highlight the following: There are four separate American government agencies that are involved in the nuclear export process. The process is difficult to navigate due to the multiple agencies involved. It also is opaque at times due to the DoE’s lack of a modern application system, which would allow real time tracking. It is inefficient, which results in long approval times, and it is more restrictive in its controls than many other foreign counterparts. The inefficiencies stem from the multiple agencies involved, which can create communication and coordination errors between agencies. There is also a lack of dedicated staff in the DoE’s National Nuclear Security Administration. The staff currently is comprised of three individuals who also have other responsibilities (Glasgow et al. 2012).
- 10.
The “integral” in iPWR refers to the characteristic that certain systems, structures, and components (SSCs)—notably the steam generators, control rod drive mechanisms, and pressuriser—are integrated into the reactor pressure vessel containing the nuclear fuel. In current-generation large PWRs, such SSCs are external to the pressure vessel. There is no technical reason that would prevent designers from integrating the SSCs into the pressure vessels of large PWRs. However, such hypothetical large integral pressure vessels would not be compatible with factory production because they would be too heavy to transport to reactor sites (using current methods), and therefore would have to be built on site. The integral design of small iPWRs has advantages and disadvantages. A potential safety benefit is that the design eliminates large-diameter piping outside of the reactor vessel, thus eliminating the possibility of a large-break loss-of-coolant accident from a ruptured pipe. (Such accidents are relatively low-probability events, so the reduction in overall risk may not be very significant). Of concern, incorporating the steam generators into the same space as the reactor core requires compact and sometimes novel geometries, such as helical coils. That increases the intensity of the radioactive environment in which the generators must operate, and could affect such issues as corrosion and also make the generators much more difficult to inspect and repair (Lyman 2013).
- 11.
CANDU reactors are moderated and cooled by heavy water; the moderator and coolant are in separate circuits.
- 12.
The reason of this specific prohibition is that currently British Columbia hydroelectric power plants satisfies almost 86% of the province's base-line electricity needs.
- 13.
Why nuclear power? It is estimated that approximately 90% of the Alberta oil sands are too far below the surface to use open-pit mining. Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. Mining oil sands is water intensive; Drilling one well consumes 5.5 acre-feet of water each year, and the production of one gallon of oil requires thirty-five gallons of water (Daly 2013).
- 14.
The IMSR represents true innovation in safety, cost, and functionality. It will offer safe and reliable power solutions for electricity production, both on- and off-grid, and energy for industrial process heat generation. These together extend the applicability of nuclear energy far beyond its current footprint. With this profile, the IMSR is capable of driving the rapid global decarbonisation of the primary energy system by displacing fossil fuel combustion across a broad front. It is complementary to renewable power sources and ideal for distributed power systems on existing grids. Using an innovative design and proven MSR technology, the IMSR can be brought to global markets in the 2020s. Terrestrial Energy is currently developing its IMSR commercial demonstration power plant for deployment in Canada (Marketwired 2016).
- 15.
The mining industry in Canada is a significant contributor to the economy. It employs 418,000 workers and adds over US$50 billion to Canada’s GDP. At the same time, mining’s GHG emissions and energy consumption account for 7.7 and 8.5% of Canadian industrial greenhouse gases emissions and energy use. While the industry’s overall energy efficiency and greenhouse gases emissions in mining have improved in the past 20 years, the fossil fuel consumption for power generation is steadily growing at off-grid mining operations in Canada’s northern regions. In 2013, a total of million liters of petroleum fuel was consumed for power generation at northern off-grid mining operations, emitting 690,000 metric tons of CO2.
Canada is also home to 292 remote communities, with a total population of approximately 194,000 people, based on natural resources Canada estimates. Many of these communities are not connected to grids and are powered instead by local diesel generators. The total remote diesel generating capacity in these communities is 328 MW, consuming over 90 million liters of diesel annually, and emitting 240,000 metric tons of CO2 and several other air contaminants in the process (Gihm 2015).
- 16.
International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) is a Generation IV reactor design made by an international team of companies, laboratories, and universities and coordinated by Westinghouse. IRIS is a modular pressurised water reactor with an integral configuration (all primary system components—pumps, steam generators, pressuriser, and control rod drive mechanisms—are inside the reactor vessel). It is offered in configurations of single or multiple modules, each having a power rating of 1000 MWt (about 335 MWe).
References
About OPG - Ontario’s clean energy provider, Ontario Power Generation website, www.opg.com/about, 2016.
Analysis & Projections: International Projections, U.S. Energy Information Administration, [online] 2011, http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/aeo/tablebrowser/#release=IEO2011&subject=0-IEO2011&table=1-IEO2011®ion=0-0&cases=Reference-0504a_1630, 19 June 2013.
Beyond Coal (2013), Sierra Club, [online], http://content.sierraclub.org/coal/victories, 9 July 2013.
Canada edges closer to SMR build after VC funding deal, Nuclear Energy Insider, 2016.
Carelli, Mario D, and Ingersoll, Daniel T. (2015), Handbook of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy, Number 64, 2015.
Daly, John (2013), Canada Considering Nuclear Reactors in Alberta Tar Sands Fields, OilPrice.com, 2013.
Emerging Nuclear Energy Countries, WNA, 2016.
Environment: Emissions Prevented, Nuclear Energy Institute, [online], http://www.nei.org/resourcesandstats/nuclear_statistics/Environment-Emissions-Prevented, 8 July 2013.
Executive Order 13154 issued by President Obama on October 5, 2009.
Ferguson, Will (2013), Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Planned for Tennessee, For National Geographic, Published June 07, 2013.
Glasgow, J.A.; Teplinsky, E.; Markus, S.L. (2012), Nuclear Export Controls: A Comparative Analysis of National Regimes for the Control of Nuclear Materials, Components, and Technology, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, Washington D.C., October 2012.
Gihm, Brian (2015), Very Small Nuclear Reactors, Canadian Consulting Engineer, 2015.
Green Bitumen: The Role of Nuclear, Gasification and CCS in Alberta’s Oil Sands (2009), Study 119, Canadian Energy Research Institute, February 2009.
Hinze, Jonathan (2015), Senior Vice President, International, 5th Annual SMR Summit, April 2015.
HydroWorld.com, Public increasingly opposed to HidroAysén, nuclear power – Ipsos, 13 April 2011.
International Atomic Energy Agency, Power Reactor Information System. IAEA-PRIS (2016).
Kroodsma, D. (2013), Interactive Map: All the World’s Nuclear Reactors, Climate Central, [online] 25 April 2011, http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/interactive-map-all-the-worlds-nuclear-reactors, 8 July 2013.
Kurth, Michael (2013), Advancing the Commercialization of Small Modular Reactors, Sponsored by the American Nuclear Society, August 1, 2013.
Lyman, Edwin (2013), Small Isn’t Always Beautiful. Safety, Security, and Cost Concerns about Small Modular Reactors, Union of Concerned Scientists, September 2013.
Morales Pedraza, Jorge (2013), World Major Nuclear Accidents and their Negative Impact on the Environment, Human Health and Public Opinion; International Journal of Energy, Environment and Economics (IJEEE 21 #2) Volume 21 Issue 2; Nova Science Publishers, Inc.; 2013.
New Energy Outlook 2016 Powering a Changing World (2016), Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s, 2016.
New Act powers B.C. forward with clean energy and jobs (2010), News release, Office of the Premier Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, 2010.
Nuclear Power in Canada, World Nuclear Association website, 2016.
Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan: Building Our Clean Energy Future, Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (2010); McGuinty Government’s Long-Term Energy Plan Turns On Clean Power, Turns Off Dirty Coal, Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure press release, 23 November 2010.
Regulated Price Plan (2016), Price Report, Ontario Energy Board, 2016.
Report on Nuclear Power and Alberta (2009), Nuclear Power Expert Panel, February 2009.
Rosner, R.; Goldberg, S. and Hezig, Joseph (2011), Small Modular Reactors—Key to Future Nuclear Power Generation in the U.S.; EPIC, University of Chicago: Chicago, USA, 2011.
Roulstone, Tony (2015), Economies of scale vs. economies of volume, 6 August 2015.
Terrestrial Energy secures funding for reactor project, World Nuclear News (WNN), 2016.
Terrestrial Energy Says Molten Salt is the Future of SMR Technology, Canadian Nuclear Association, 2015.
Terrestrial Energy Awarded $5.7 Million Grant From Canadian Federal Government, Marketwired, 2016.
The Nuclear Energy Option in Alberta (2008), submitted by Alberta Research Council and Idaho National Laboratory to the Government of Alberta Nuclear Expert Panel on October 1, 2008.
Vergara Aimone, Julio (2014), Small Modular Reactors in Latin America, presentation made in LAS-ANS meeting held in Río de Janeiro, Brazil on July 20th, 2014.
Zogby International (2008), 10. 67% Favor Building New Nuclear Power Plants in U.S., 2008.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Morales Pedraza, J. (2017). The Current Situation and Perspective of the Small Modular Reactors Market in North and South America, Including the Caribbean Regions. In: Small Modular Reactors for Electricity Generation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52216-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52216-6_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-52215-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52216-6
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)