Energy security

Smaller, Cheaper Nuclear Reactors Are on the Way

As the U.S. moves away from fossil fuels with renewable energy like wind and solar taking its place, one cleaner alternative has been largely ignored: nuclear power. Over the last 20 years, only one new nuclear plant has finished construction in the United States.

There are many different reasons for this, but one of the biggest by far is that nuclear reactors are extremely expensive and complicated to build. The single power plant constructed in 2016, Watts Bar 2, began construction in 1973 and ultimately cost $4.7 billion, including a full $2 billion in budget overruns. Nuclear isn’t exactly the best choice when looking for cheap, flexible energy solutions.

But all that might be about to change, thanks to a new reactor design that’s smaller, cheaper and easier to build. The first so-called small modular reactor (SMR) design has just passed a Phase I review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, so construction on the reactor can now go ahead. With luck, that reactor will be completed in less than a decade.