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Small modular nuclear reactors can help meet US energy and emission goals—if we let them
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With help from policy, natural gas pricing and a variable known as learning, small modular nuclear reactors could be an economically viable way to provide low-carbon energy to heat-intensive industries, like ethanol refining, by 2050. Image credit: Sue Thompson (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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Small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs, could help the U.S. meet emissions goals while also satisfying growing energy demands. Although the U.S. has not powered up an SMR yet due to some deployment challenges, cost and complexity, new research from the University of Michigan shows that they are an economically viable option.
“While expensive and challenging, SMRs do have the potential to be deployed,” said Max Vanatta, lead author of the new study in the journal Nature Energy. Vanatta is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) and in the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering.
The other authors of the study are SEAS Assistant Professor Michael Craig and Robb Stewart, chief technology officer of Alva Energy.
Read the full press release on the Michigan News website.
Study: The Role of Policy and Module Manufacturing Learning for Industrial Decarbonization by Small Modular Reactors (DOI: 10.1038/s41560-024-01665-w)