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WIn northeastern Siberia, a ship in the colors of the Russian national flag is anchored in the port city of Pewek. The Akademik Lomonossow, a giant angular ship named after a Russian natural scientist, is currently the most controversial ship in the world. Environmentalists discredit it as a “floating Chernobyl” and a “nuclear titanic”. For the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, the Lomonossow Academy heralds a new era. Because the ship is a kind of floating nuclear power plant that provides power to the local population and economy in remote Pewek. According to the IAEA, the reactors in the ship’s hull are the first of their kind in the world to already supply electricity.
Marcus theurer
Economics editor at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
Experts speak of “Small Modular Reactors” (SMR). Around the world there are currently around 70 projects to develop these small-scale nuclear reactors. Most of them, of course, are not supposed to become floating power plants like the Russian nuclear power ship, but will be built on land. What’s special about them is that they only have a fraction of the output of large conventional power plants, but they should be safer and much less expensive.
Factory prefabricated nuclear power plants
The International Atomic Energy Agency defines SMR systems as nuclear reactors with a maximum power of 300 megawatts. For comparison: in large conventional power plants, individual reactors are typically 1,300 megawatts and above. Proponents are counting on the fact that in the future SMR systems will be built in large numbers and more or less in series, which would compensate for the lower power of individual reactors. The Friends of Small Power Plants believe that the new technology will lead to a global renaissance of atomic power in electricity generation and can make an important contribution to the supply of climate-friendly energy.
“There is growing interest in SMR technology around the world,” says IAEA nuclear expert Stefano Monti. This applies especially to the White House in Washington, where a new president rules. In his old days, Joe Biden, 78, has become the new hope for international climate protection.
On his first day in office, Biden ordered the United States to return to the Paris Agreement, which his predecessor Donald Trump had terminated. The granting of new drilling licenses for the oil industry will be restricted. After all, the world’s largest economy should become climate neutral by 2050; Biden promised it in the election campaign. But what can be quite disturbing for some German climate protection activists: the new head of government is not only relying on wind turbines and photovoltaic systems in the announced radical restructuring of the energy system. Biden also wants to explore opportunities for new types of nuclear power plants, such as SMR plants.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also a fan of nuclear energy. In Britain, a consortium led by the Rolls-Royce industrial group is working on SMR technology with financial support from the government. Up to 16 such plants will be built on the island and will replace older conventional nuclear power plants. In Canada, SMR reactors are also on the energy policy agenda. Argentina and China are much further ahead: the first small nuclear power plants are already under construction there and could come online in the next three years.
