Conventional nuclear power plants produce hundreds of megawatts of electricity on sites that occupy hundreds of acres of land. Nuclear power has several benefits including being carbon-free and available around the clock, but their large size and complicated infrastructure can make them a challenge to build and operate. Advanced microreactors, small reactors capable of producing up to 10 megawatts of electricity on less than one acre of land, present a new option. But what would you do with a reactor that small? EPRI recently produced a white paper, “Microreactors: Miniature Energy Sources,” exploring these new carbon-free energy sources, their benefits, and potential uses.
Microreactors have several advantages over their larger cousins. The small size and modular design allow for factory construction, which also introduces the ability to use assembly line style production, driving down costs. The size and design mean fewer parts, which can result in reduced complexity for manufacturing, commissioning, and operating. They can also have a longer core life, with some operating for up to 10 years without refueling.
So, what applications do these benefits lend themselves to? One example could be a remote community or industrial operation. Typically, remote areas lack connections to the energy grid and often rely on diesel generators to supply electricity. Diesel generators need regular supplies of fuel which can be costly, and power can be lost if a shipment is missed. Depending on the microreactor’s design, it could operate between two and ten years without refueling, providing a stable source of power. The Nuclear Energy Institute estimates the cost of a microreactor installation to be between 0.14 to 0.41 $/kWh for the first installation, with future installations costing between 0.09 to 0.33 $/kWh. Conversely, diesel generation costs for remote communities can range from 0.15 to 0.60 $/kWh, which means microreactors could provide significant savings.
Natural disasters resulting in significant damage to the power system are another opportunity for deploying more mobile microreactor technologies. The portability of these kind of microreactors could enable them to be transported to the affected region and set up quickly to supply power while the main grid was being restored.
A microreactor could also serve as the power source for a district energy system, which provides hot water, steam, or chilled water from a central plant to nearby buildings. The water is used to provide heating or air conditioning in the buildings as well as hot water on tap. One or two microreactors could meet the needs of an entire campus of buildings. Using larger reactors for district energy has already been implemented successfully throughout Europe and in China.
What does the future hold for microreactors? More than a dozen developers are actively working to demonstrate microreactor technologies, with some designs expected to have demonstration units operational in the mid-2020s. With the work ongoing in the industry and R&D support from organizations like EPRI, microreactors are expected to be deployable and cost-effective for multiple applications in the next several years.
For more information about the state of the microreactor industry and other uses, including in space and industrial applications, see EPRI’s white paper.