Small Modular Reactors (SMRs): Concepts, Technology, Challenges and Opportunities

Summary

This course provides an overview of the concepts, designs, technologies and commercial use cases of small modular reactors.

It explores the opportunities, challenges and timescales facing SMR development and commercialisation in the UK and globally, and offers a realistic assessment of the sector for businesses considering market entry or expansion.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) have the potential to realise baseload nuclear power generation at significantly lower costs, while also enabling much wider applications, such as off-grid supply to AI data centres, cogeneration and maritime propulsion. Growing numbers of both established and new reactor vendors are seeking to bring SMRs to market and government policy in the UK, US and elsewhere is aligning to make SMRs a success.

Nevertheless, the sector faces significant questions over the realities of cost, timescales and design maturity.  This course aims to provide an overview of the rationale behind the SMR concept, the proposed technologies, and the challenges and opportunities faced by the SMR vendors, operators and supply chain actors to reach commercial operation.

Who should attend?

This course is designed for engineers and commercial executives keen to find new investment opportunities, assess policy support, benchmark technologies and grasp the opportunities in the SMR sector.

• For anyone who has a strong interest in SMRs and wants to learn more about the technology, how if differs from current nuclear plants, and how the sector is evolving.
• People working in the supply chain or supporting services who wish to better understand the concept and potential market.
• Media or policy contributors who wish to have accurate information about the SMR sector

How will I benefit?

After the course you will be able to: 

• Have a clear grasp of the current status of SMR development in the UK and globally: players, challenges and opportunities
• Understand the role SMRs can play in delivering clean, nuclear power and meet the expected demand of off-grid supply to AI data centres or cogeneration and in remote locations
• Assess SMRs advantages on costs, scalability and flexibility 
• Understand the financing of SMRs projects: public subsidies, debt, equity, project finance or other
• Have a perspective on structuring end-to-end value chains, from fuel supply to radioactive waste management, cost optimisation and resiliency against current geopolitics 

Key topics

• Introduction - definition of an SMR and scope of the course
• Overview of global nuclear power development and deployment
• Cost challenge of nuclear power
• SMR cost drivers and conditions to be cost competitive
• Challenges to the SMR model
• Opportunities for SMRs beyond cost competitiveness
• Potential use cases – grid power, data centre, industrial heat, pink hydrogen, maritime propulsion
• How the global SMR market and supply chain are evolving
• Transition of new nuclear projects from planning to full-scale implementation