Small modular nuclear reactors and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050? The math doesn’t add up

SMR advocates claim that costs would come down rapidly through repeated manufacture in factories and learning. But the evidence for these effects is slim to non-existent.

Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan, pictured in February 2020, introduced Canada’s action plan for small modular nuclear reactors at the end of last year. However, unfavourable economics has driven nuclear power’s declining share in global electricity generation, from 17.5 per cent in 1996 to around 10 per cent in 2019, writes M. V. Ramana.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY M. V. RAMANA

March 10, 2021

In December 2020, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan released an action plan for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), which assured us that SMRs will enable, among other things, “a net-zero economy by 2050.” Earlier, O’...

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