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Environment: pocket reactors, the future of nuclear power?
Environment: pocket reactors, the future of nuclear power? – (franceinfo)
Large nuclear power plants will undoubtedly soon become a thing of the past. Now time for SMRs, mini-reactors. A project which is part of the France 2030 program announced by Emmanuel Macron in 2022.
In a factory of the Atomic Energy Commission, French workers are busy designing an SMR, a small nuclear reactor. The key is the manufacturing of miniature power stations that will produce the electricity of tomorrow. A technology intended for communities and businesses for more local consumption.
SMRs produce less than 30 MW, compared to 900 to 1,450 for a conventional power plant and 1,650 for an EPR. These power plants will also cost less because they are mass-produced, more compact and with better waste treatment.
A complex feasibility
This project is part of the France 2030 program announced by Emmanuel Macron in 2022. “This project cultivates a strong ambition: to make France in 30 years the first major country in the world to emerge from dependence on fossil fuels and to strengthen our industrial energy independence with an exemplary climate”declared the head of state.
However, their feasibility remains complex. More than 80 projects are currently in development in 18 countries according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), and only two reactors, located in Russia, are in service worldwide.
