2024-01-29 06:30:00
EUROPE NEED SMR
BLOOMBERG - Jan 25, 2024 - The European Union is stepping up efforts to roll out small modular nuclear reactors in the next decade as it seeks to tap atomic power to help meet net-zero targets.
The European Commission is due to unveil its European Industrial Alliance on SMRs next month to encourage collaboration in a sector that has yet to get off the ground, according to a draft declaration seen by Bloomberg News. The technology can make a “key contribution” to the bloc’s new target to cut emissions 90% by 2040, which is set to be adopted on Feb. 6.
SMRs are drawing the attention of policymakers around the world since they can be mass-produced for assembly in various places, and are potentially cheaper and quicker to build than conventional plants. While SMRs aren’t commercially proven yet at scale and EU nations are split over nuclear’s role, the technology is seen as source of stable, low-emission power during the energy transition.
The alliance’s objective “is to facilitate and accelerate the development, demonstration, and deployment of the first SMRs projects in Europe in the early 2030s,” according to the draft document, which is still subject to change.
The bloc is also keen to ensure that innovative clean tech sectors emerge across the continent, rather than lose out to the US or China. It has formed similar industry alliances to promote battery and hydrogen industries.
Nuclear advocates have pushed for SMRs for more than a decade, but so far Russia is the only country to put them into commercial use. NuScale Power Corp., the only company with a licensed US design, this month said it’s cutting more than a quarter of its workforce after canceling its only project due to costs.
The International Atomic Energy Agency tracks more 70 unique designs in various stages of development worldwide, suggesting the kind of international technology standardization needed to drive down manufacturing costs is still some way off.
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Earlier:
2024, January, 22, 06:30:00
RUSSIAN ARCTIC NUCLEAR
The joint plans of Rosatom and the region include projects for the development of energy infrastructure and the construction of a shift village, landing strip, roads and sea pier, as well as the construction of the world's first low-power nuclear power plant with a Shelf-M reactor of up to 10 MWe.
2023, November, 27, 06:45:00
EUROPEAN NUCLEAR POWER
Nuclear had only partially been included in the commission's proposal for NZIA. Among the 10 technologies it proposed was "advanced technologies to produce energy from nuclear processes with minimal waste from the fuel cycle, small modular reactors, and related best-in-class fuels".
2023, November, 17, 06:40:00
RUSSIAN ARCTIC NUCLEAR DECISION
The energy system for the remote region is a standalone one run by Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company, part of the Norilsk Nickel group. The city of Norilsk is within the Arctic circle in Russia's north, and has a population of more than 170,000 people.
2023, November, 17, 06:35:00
EUROPEAN NUCLEAR SMR
The Commission set up a European SMR pre-Partnership in June with the overall objective of identifying enabling conditions and constraints, including financial ones, towards safe design, construction and operation of SMRs in Europe in the next decade and beyond in compliance with the EU legislative framework in general and to the Euratom legislative framework in particular.
2023, July, 7, 06:35:00
EUROPEAN GREEN ENERGY CRISIS & POLICY
By 2021, wind, solar, and natural gas provided 48 percent of Germany’s electricity, and provided most of the electricity consumed in Italy (63%), the UK (64%), and the Netherlands (78%).
2023, May, 19, 06:25:00
EUROPEAN NUCLEAR RENEWABLES
France, which relies on nuclear for the bulk of its electricity supply, has been pushing to allow a greater role for the technology in the energy transition.
2023, April, 28, 06:30:00
RUSSIAN ARCTIC SMR
Rosatom said that the design met "all post-Fukushima safety requirements for the modern NPP design - this is a compact modular nuclear power plant, featuring reduced construction time compared with large nuclear power plants".
