Full Title: How To Make Nuclear Cheap: Safety, Readiness, Modularity, and Efficiency
Author(s): Ted Nordhaus, Jessica Lovering, and Michael Shellenberger
Publisher(s): Breakthrough Institute
Publication Date: July 1, 2013
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
A number of new advanced reactor designs bring substantial benefits over the existing light-water fleet, such as inherent safety mechanisms and the ability to reuse spent fuel. Yet not all features will result in lower costs. So what are the key characteristics that will make advanced nuclear energy cheaper?
Our assessment of nine advanced designs, from high-temperature gas reactors to fusion, finds four factors that will most likely prove determinative in achieving any significant cost declines. We conclude that policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs should pursue reactors models that are:
- Safe. Inherent safety characteristics eliminate the need for expensive and redundant safety systems.
- Ready. Ready designs will utilize existing supply chains and will not require the development or commercialization of new or unproven materials and fuels.
- Modular. Modularity allows whole reactors or their components to be mass-produced and assembled uniformly.
- Efficient. High thermal efficiency enables reactors to generate more electricity from a smaller physical plant.