Small Modular Nuclear Reactors: Separating Fact from Fiction

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Bio:

Dr. Edwin Lyman is the Director of Nuclear Power Safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC. He earned a doctorate in physics from Cornell University in 1992. He is a co-author (with David Lochbaum and Susan Q. Stranahan) of the book Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster (The New Press, 2014). He is the recipient of the 2018 Leo Szilard Lectureship Award from the American Physical Society. From 2020-2022 he served on a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine study on advanced nuclear fuel cycles.

Abstract:

In recent years, nuclear power has seen a resurgence of interest as the world forgets about the 2011 Fukushima triple nuclear meltdown in Japan. Citing the potential of nuclear plants to help fight climate change and to meet the huge growth in data center-driven electricity demand that some predict, the nuclear industry has successfully rebranded nuclear power as “clean energy.” However, although nuclear power plants don’t emit carbon dioxide, they are anything but clean, as they produce large quantities of highly toxic and long-lived radioactive byproducts that are routinely emitted to the air and water and, in the event of a severe accident or military attack, can cause extensive, long-term contamination of the environment. Nuclear power is also generally much more costly than other low-carbon alternatives such as wind and solar power. Because new large reactors are so expensive—as exemplified by the recently completed Vogtle reactors in Georgia, which experienced massive delays and cost overruns—the industry has set its sights on “small modular reactors,” which it claims will be cheaper and safer. However, small reactors will generate more expensive electricity unless many corners are cut in design and operation—for instance, by eliminating the large containment buildings typical of today’s reactors and reducing the required number of operators and security personnel. Such modifications to future plants will make nuclear power less safe and secure than it is today, even if the designs themselves have some inherent safety features.

Host or Publisher Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment