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Is it the end of the line for Light Water Reactor technology or can China and Russia save the day?

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  • Thomas, Steve

Abstract

In the late 1990s, a new generation of reactor designs evolved from existing designs was touted as solving the economic problems that led to the collapse of reactor ordering after the Chernobyl disaster. It was claimed these designs would be cheap and easy to build because they would be simpler and use passive safety, modular construction and standardisation. The US and UK governments were convinced by this and launched reactor construction programmes. However, 20 years on, the claims have proved false and the US and UK programmes are in disarray. The last hope for the nuclear industry appears to be that Chinese and Russian reactor vendors, with powerful support from their governments, will take over, providing reactors that are cheap but meet the safety standards required in Europe and North America. However, these vendors and their designs are largely unproven in open markets. There is also little evidence that their reactors will be cheap, there are concerns about quality and safety culture and there are national security concerns that may deter customers. New technologies, such as radical new ones, Generation IV, and Small Modular Reactors are unproven and, at best, a long way from commercial deployment

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas, Steve, 2019. "Is it the end of the line for Light Water Reactor technology or can China and Russia save the day?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 216-226.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:125:y:2019:i:c:p:216-226
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.10.062
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio & Velenturf, Anne, 2020. "Modularisation as enabler of circular economy in energy infrastructure," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Ben Wealer & Simon Bauer & Leonard Göke & Christian von Hirschhausen & Claudia Kemfert, 2019. "Economics of Nuclear Power Plant Investment: Monte Carlo Simulations of Generation III/III+ Investment Projects," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1833, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Lin, Boqiang & Bae, Nuri & Bega, François, 2020. "China's Belt & Road Initiative nuclear export: Implications for energy cooperation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    5. Ben Wealer & Christian von Hirschhausen, 2020. "Nuclear Power as a System Good: Organizational Models for Production along the Value-Added Chain," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1883, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Wealer, B. & Bauer, S. & Hirschhausen, C.v. & Kemfert, C. & Göke, L., 2021. "Investing into third generation nuclear power plants - Review of recent trends and analysis of future investments using Monte Carlo Simulation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).

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