Development of objective cost models incorporating the promised benefits of SMR designs is needed to provide a basis for making government investment decisions, informing government loan-guarantee decisions, and for communicating financial considerations to potential decision makers. These efforts will help quantify the business case for SMRs and develop a capability to support SMR technology/ capability comparisons and will include implications on the supply chain infrastructure needed to support the SMR business model.
Title: EPIC Small Modular Reactors-Key to Future Nuclear Power Generation in the U.S.
Completion Date: November 2011
Objective: Examine the economic prospects for SMRs.
Result: SMRs could be an attractive option for nuclear deployment as long as the factory fabrication processes resulted in learning effects that would drive down costs with increasing experience as has been seen in many other industries.
Impact: Has served as a springboard for numerous studies undertaken to expand and update our understanding of the potential for SMRs.
Title: Study on Manufacturing Learning
Completion Date: August 2013
Objective: This study continued the work done in the EPIC study and was completed in August 2013. The study analyzed the costs for the production of factory-built components for an SMR economy for an iPWR design and the modeling focused on the components that are contained in an integrated reactor vessel.
Result: The study supported the learning assumptions made in the EPIC report. It is also emphasized the extent to which learning in other industries can be transferred to SMRs, thereby lowering the initial costs of a first-of-a-kind SMR that would be starting from scratch. Due to the maturity of the nuclear industry and significant transfer of knowledge from the gigawatt (GW)-scale reactor production to the small modular reactor economy, the first complete SMR facsimile design would have incorporated a significant amount of learning (averaging about 80% as compared with a prototype unit). Assuming a minimum lot size of five or about 500 MWe, the average production cost of the first-of-the kind units are projected to average about 65% of the cost of the first prototype unit (the lead unit) that would not have incorporated any learning.
Reactor Vessel Manufacturing Study Volume 1
Reactor Vessel Manufacturing Study Volume 2
Impact: Provides a basis for DOE investments in SMR-specific manufacturing capabilities in future programs aimed at improving the deployment potential for SMRs as a clean energy option.
Title: Update to EPIC Report: Electricity Generating Portfolios with Small Modular Reactors
Completion Date: September 2014
Objective: This study updated cost estimates not only for SMRs but also for potentially competing electricity generation technologies including natural gas power plants.
Result: SMRs can replace fossil units in a portfolio of coal and natural gas generating stations to reduce the levelized cost risk associated with the volatility of natural gas prices and the unknown cost of CO2 associated with fossil-fueled combustion at average levelized costs that are less than average current electricity prices.
Impact: Evaluated the choices facing utilities as they consider building new generating capacity, provides a basis for maintaining a nuclear fuel component of utilities electricity generation portfolio as a way to minimize LCOE risk based on fuel price uncertainties.
Title: Improvements in SMR Modular Construction through Supply Chain Optimization and Lessons Learned
Completion Date: March 30, 2017
Objective: This study, involving Georgia Institute of Technology and Westinghouse, identifies and addresses challenges and deficiencies in current modular construction methods by investigating ways to reduce waste during the manufacturing process, and to improve quality, efficiency, and throughput on SMR parts, components or modules to improve the economics of SMR development.
Result: Through this work, a decision support system methodology (EVAL) was developed that aims to evaluate and improve SMR construction. The results of this effort were consistent with the assumptions that the cost of a construction activity is minimized when accomplished in the factory, greatest when accomplished at the construction site, and at an intermediate level when accomplished at an assembly area close to the construction site. The analysis has led to a better understanding of circumstances under which modular construction performed mainly in the factory will result in lower expected total cost, relative to more traditional, on-site construction procedures. Further, it is anticipated that EVAL can be used to gain insight regarding the role standardization can play in order for modularization to be most effectively defined.
Improvements in SMR Modular Construction through Supply Chain Optimization and Lessons Learned
Impact: The study provides insights for SMR vendors and potential owners on ways to accelerate the construction schedule and reduce its variability, reduce the cost of construction, reduce interest costs accrued during construction, and enhance the overall economic attractiveness of SMRs.