It also means that more people can become involved in the decision about which solution is best for a particular site or project.
The modular size of small nuclear is critical.Due to the need for power resilience, sites would need to have some arrangement of N+1 power units – if each unit is too large then the investment costs would be simply too high.
The modularity of SMRs and suitability to support DC loads will be important.. Licencing and regulation of nuclear power.Small modular reactors are looking to address some of the licensing and regulation issues with repeatable modular design.. Based upon conversations and work with the small nuclear development ecosystem, there was a stated view that an industrialised modular nuclear offering is 20 years in the future.This view is in stark contrast to some who believe we will see offerings in three to five years.
The difference may be in the maturity of the technology.Without proven repeatability, regulation will remain arduous.
Development is in progress, but the market is still some years from a pilot..
Some of the group suggested that the market for this technology is currently dysfunctional: modular nuclear developers have an idea and are looking for niche markets (for instance, replacing coal-fired power stations with SMRs, as well as data centre power).Xometry uses a widely distributed network of suppliers who can respond to requests which suit their capabilities and capacity.
This would be a positive outcome for construction, ensuring those suppliers who were local to a planned project could respond, reducing travel distance and therefore carbon, risk of delivery delays etc..This distribution helps manufacturers to maximise their utilisation; downtime on equipment and operatives contributes to overhead, which is amortised across orders, raising prices and lowering productivity.
Having easy access to long term pipeline (as advocated in the Construction Playbook) will of course help ensure there is less downtime.But being able to use down time to manufacture ‘short’ orders or contribute to a larger order (the consistent specifications making products from different suppliers fungible) will also help increase utilisation and productivity, reducing prices;.
(Editor: Stackable Shelves)