Clarington Darlington Small Modular Reactor | ?m | 1s | OPG | SNC-Lavalin

AlvinofDiaspar said:
Building a single SMR was a bit of a headscratcher to me from the start - but even now it feels a little odd considering even 4 SMRs only equate to an output of what, a single regular CANDU on a site with multiple units.

AoD
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A single SMR was the minimum. Their license application mentioned the option for 3 additional SMRs. Of course, at that time I think the expectation was that the first would go live for a couple years before starting the others. For a 2030 completion they'll be building all 4 at the same time as the one under construction completes in 2028.

Nuclear reactor facility - Darlington New Nuclear Project

nuclearsafety.gc.ca nuclearsafety.gc.ca
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Building a single SMR was a bit of a headscratcher to me from the start - but even now it feels a little odd considering even 4 SMRs only equate to an output of what, a single regular CANDU on a site with multiple units.

AoD
Click to expand...
It may partially be a proof of concept build. Even if the technology is established elsewhere (and I don't know if it is), it allows our governments, regulators, OPG, bank, etc. to get a feel for it.

I couldn't open the link, but I think it is a good idea, if for no other reason than some people casually read about "small" and "modular" and have gone off thinking that this is something like a 'reactor-in-a-seacan' that we can drop off in Rankin Inlet or Fort Severn and end their dependency on diesel.
 
I'm generally supportive of nuclear, particularly SMR, provided we can deliver on promises of more straightforward and cost effective deployment. It it pretty questionable that the cost of power from these SMRs is estimated around 11-14 cents per kwh, which is more expensive than wind+battery.

I think the RethinkX whitepaper on wind+solar+battery being cost effective and potentially an avenue to significant electrification of industrial processes through the use of currently curtailed excess renewables. I suspect baseload nuclear would be a good complement to that portfolio of technologies (as well as additional energy storage like pumped hydro) even if nuclear is more expensive, as it may reduce further the need for grid battery storage.
 
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