Are small modular reactors the way to go for Southeast Asia?

Are small modular reactors the way to go for Southeast Asia?

Post-Fukushima, nuclear energy remains a strategic option to address energy
security and decarbonisation for developing economies, especially those in
the ASEAN region. However, a Fukushima-scale accident occurring in ASEAN
could lead to severe trans-boundary impacts to several ASEAN members due to
close geographical proximity. ASEAN members are generally lacking in
experience with nuclear energy albeit varied developments in nuclear safety,
policy, and human infrastructure. The trans-boundary impacts due to a severe
nuclear accident could cause catastrophic consequences in the region. With
the lasting memories of Fukushima, the construction of large-sized reactors
has become a highly sensitive and much disputed topic in ASEAN. The
emergence of small modular reactors has somewhat revived the expectation of
nuclear energy in the region.

SMRs are conceived to be factory-made, self-contained, user-centric, and
transportable such that they can be batch-produced for on-site assembly.
Standardisation and modularity can allow for cost reduction through
repetition and batch production so as to offer better assurance over
completion time and cost control. Most of the SMR designs are based on the
mature and commercially proven pressurised water reactor (PWR) technology.
Many designs have further incorporated the element of passive safety taking
advantage of natural forces, such as convection and gravity in the event of
emergency. Some SMRs can be fitted into a ship or a barge as floating or
marine SMRs (such as the KLT-40S and ACPR50S) for electricity and heat
production. Some advanced SMR designs are conceived to conform to the
Generation IV technology, such as the high temperature reactor pebble-bed
module (HTR-PM) and molten salt reactors (MSRs). One HTR-PM unit is
currently under construction at Shidao Bay Nuclear Power Station as an
industrial demonstration project in China, but no confirmed timeline for the
construction of demonstration MSRs has been reported as of June 2017.

The developments in SMRs can potentially alter the competitive landscape of
the clean technology market in Southeast Asia and the rest of the developing
world. SMRs are baseload technologies that can be added incrementally as
individual power modules when the demand for electricity increases. That
allows for significantly reduced upfront capital commitment as compared to
building a large-sized reactor and improved flexibility and reliability in
micro-grid planning as compared to the intermittent solar photovoltaic or
wind power. Marine SMRs can be connected to an onshore utility grid and turn
into a virtual land-based nuclear power plant. The concept of a virtual
land-based nuclear power plant can significantly increase the flexibility in
siting requirements and can potentially relieve the user country from the
responsibilities of managing a physical nuclear power plant and a nuclear
fuel cycle.

Regardless the advantages, SMRs are nuclear reactors that require
meticulously formulated regulatory and policy framework to ensure safety and
security. At the moment, only half of ASEAN members (alphabetically
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) have established
nuclear research programs and regulatory frameworks on nuclear safety and
emergency planning. A severe trans-boundary nuclear disaster could lead to
devastating impacts in the absence of a comprehensive framework on
protection, timely reporting, and coordinated emergency mitigation efforts.
Therefore, it is important for ASEAN members to agree on the acceptable
maximum worst-case accident impact scenarios taking into consideration
individual national circumstances. In turn, those scenarios could be used to
develop a common legal framework defining the responsibilities and
liabilities of affected countries in the event of a nuclear accident. More
importantly, those scenarios can help establish a better understanding on
whether nuclear energy will work well for ASEAN, what types of nuclear
reactors are most suitable for the region, and how much should the region
rely on nuclear energy.

For more detailed analyses and further reading, please refer to the
following scholarly articles:
1. Victor Nian, The prospects of small modular reactors in Southeast Asia,
Progress in Nuclear Energy, Volume 98, July 2017, Pages 131-142, ISSN
0149-1970, Elsevier
2. Victor Nian and John Bauly, Nuclear Power Developments: Could Small
Modular Reactor Power Plants be a "Game Changer"? - The ASEAN Perspective,
Energy Procedia, Volume 61, 2014, Pages 17-20, ISSN 1876-6102, Elsevier

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Link to Original Article:
http://asian-power.com/co-written-partner/commentary/are-small-modular-react
ors-way-go-southeast-asia

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com