In recent years, small -scale modulative transformers (SMR) technology have been greatly improved, as some nuclear companies around the world are aiming to launch a small nuclear project to provide clean energy within the next 10 years. It is done.
SMR is an advanced reactor with a maximum of 300 MW (E) per unit, equivalent to about one -third of conventional reactor generation capacity. SMR is much smaller than the conventional reactor and is a module type, making it easier to assemble them in factories and transport them to the site. Because the size is small, SMR can be installed on sites that are not suitable for conventional reactors. In addition, the construction is much inexpensive and faster than the conventional reactor, and it can be constructed step by step to satisfy the increased energy demand of sites.
The SMR market is expected to increase from $ 6 billion in 2024 to $ 7.14 billion in 2030 in 2030, and has grown with 3 % CAGR. The Asia -Pacific and American markets can be the main factors of this growth.
In the United States, more and more high -tech companies are investing in SMR technology, hoping to supply power to high -energy demand data centers. This sector hopes that SMR technology will be available to supply power to several data centers by the 2030s. This is because electricity demand increases in accordance with artificial intelligence and the development of other complex technologies. As a result, Google ordered seven SMRS and ordered and tracked Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta.
The growing demand for clean energy encourages conventional nuclear companies and various emerging companies to invest a lot in the development of SMR technology. SMRs have more than 90 SMRs around the world, and many of them are supported by the government. However, many of these designs are in the early stage of development and have not yet been tested.
Bill Gates Terra Power is one of the US companies currently building SMRS. Russia’s energy sanctions led to the progress of the company’s SMR technology because Russia was the only country that produces Halle, a low -abundant uranium, which is necessary for Russia to drive to the reactor. 。 However, the United States has begun the first Hale plant production in November, expecting a faster progress over the next few years.
TERRAPOWER has broken the ground with the first project held in Wioming in August, and has been waiting for the approval of the nuclear regulation committee, which is expected to develop advanced reactors by the end of 2026. Unlike conventional reactors, the company’s equipment uses sodium instead of water for cooling.
In the UK, the government supports the development of SMR technology. In December, Stephen Love Glove, a former national security advisor, was appointed chairman of the Rolls -Royce Consortium -led Consortium, which develops SMR. LoveGrove said that Rolls-Royce was about 18 months before the competition in the development of SMR technology.
Great British Nuclear (GBN) is currently competing between six companies, and awarded contracts to develop SMR, such as Rolls -Royce SMR, Holtec owned by the United States, GE Hitachi, and Westing House owned by Canada. I am doing it. Successful companies will be awarded billions of public and private investments to develop technology to support the government’s purpose aimed at expanding the nuclear power sector in the United Kingdom.
The GBN was previously expected to provide approval of SMR development by 2029, but the deadline was shifted in 2031, reaching 2032 or 2033. Rolls -Royce says that the delay has suppressed them. The company wants to develop the first 470 MW SMR in the UK before establishing other SMRs in the Czech Republic and other European countries.
In the Netherlands, nuclear startup sorizon has announced a new consortium to develop a molten salt SMR. Sorizon has established an advanced test facility to accelerate SMR technology development in partnership with DeMCON and VDL Group, a Dutch company. The company is currently built a 100 MW molten salt furnace, Thorizo N ONE. We hope that the first prototype will be supplied by the mixture of the existing nuclear facility and the long life from the trium. As a result, many of the long -life waste turn into a short -lived waste.
The reactor of the molten salt is equipped with a radioactive solution that blends a fission isotope and liquid salt. You can supply power using uranium, but it works optimally with a cleaner, safer and more abundant nuclear fuel triums. The reactor is expected to be safer and more efficient than water -cooled plants. The project has been supported by the French government as part of the France 2030 Innovation Program and has been selected as an important project by the European Commission in the EU’s SMR Industrial Alliance Framework.
Some companies around the world have advanced SMR technology, and the first reactor is expected to be released within the next 10 years. Demand for clean energy from both the government and the private sector is increasing, and there is an important incentive to develop technology quickly. In addition, SMR can be used on a wide range of sites that can greatly increase the range of nuclear power and are not suitable for conventional reactors.
By Felicity Bradstock on ofrice.com
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