"Advanced modular reactors key to meeting the UK’s low-carbon energy needs" says CIVITAS report
Friday, 30 November 2018 00:01
New Civitas paper argues that hitting carbon targets requires
investment now in technology that can replace fossil-fuelled energy
infrastructure The government is supporting the development of
small modular reactors, but not all varieties are best suited to
the country’s demands Only the advanced high-temperature reactors
can generate the carbon-free energy required for heating,
transport, hydrogen production and industrial processes...Request free trial
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New Civitas paper argues that hitting carbon targets
requires investment now in technology that can replace
fossil-fuelled energy infrastructure
-
The government is supporting the development of small
modular reactors, but not all varieties are best suited to the
country’s demands
-
Only the advanced high-temperature reactors can
generate the carbon-free energy required for heating,
transport, hydrogen production and industrial
processes
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The UK needs to invest in a new breed of
advanced modular reactors if it is to have
any chance of meeting its decarbonisation
targets over the coming years, a new
Civitas paper argues.
The government is supporting the
development of small modular reactors
(SMRs) – which are cheaper, safer and
quicker to build than new nuclear power
stations – as part of its strategy to move
away from fossil fuels.
But entrepreneur Candida Whitmill warns
that not all SMRs are capable of meeting
the country’s particular energy
demands.
Only high-temperature advanced modular
reactors (HTRs) – as opposed to the smaller
versions of the traditional pressurised
water reactors (PWRs) – can produce the
necessary amount of carbon-free heat,
hydrogen and electricity.
‘Choosing the wrong sort of SMR for the UK
could derail any attempt to meet carbon
targets, vastly increase the cost of energy
bills and leave a legacy of environmental,
social and balance of trade issues,’ she
writes.
The decarbonisation challenge remains
immense: even if all of the UK’s
electricity was carbon-free then that would
only represent 20 per cent of the country’s
energy demands.
The other 80 per cent includes, for
example, heating homes, fuelling transport
and providing high grade heat for
industrial processes.
Providing carbon-free energy for these
needs will not be helped by the PWR variety
of small modular reactors, but HTRs are
well-suited to the production – close to
the points of consumption of:
- Hydrogen-fuelled feedstock for
transport and industrial manufacturing,
- Industrial and domestic heat, and
- Zero-carbon electricity.
British universities are undertaking
world-class research in HTRs but
development has been slower than elsewhere.
In China and Japan they have been built and
run since around the turn of the
millennium.
Whitmill writes: ‘The UK has made the
mistake before of building reactors out of
step with the international market, thus
excluding any possibility of exports.
Selecting a technology out of step with the
transitional direction of UK energy will
have additional consequences to failing to
establish an export market.
‘Like the UK, the global community is
having to come to terms with the massive
challenge of carbon-free methods to heat
homes, hospitals, offices, to drive
transport and to decarbonise industrial
processes such as hydrogen
production.
‘If we do not start investing in long-term
sustainable solutions that can address not
just carbon-free electricity but heat,
hydrogen and transport the country will
have to continue its reliance on oil and
gas.’
Notes
‘Small Modular Reactors: What is the fuss
about and does it matter?’ is published by
the cross-party think tank Civitas on
Friday November 30th.
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