On March 25, 2020, NPEC’s Executive Director, Henry Sokolski, gave the following lecture at the University of Utah:
Reactors Large and Small: Three Hurdles
Assuming we survive the Coronavirus, we still will need electricity and will want to avoid the risk of global warming. What’s unclear is how much might nuclear power be needed to generate electricity and keep our environment clean. To answer this question, we need to know how competitive current large reactors are against their nonnuclear alternatives and how competitive proposed small modular reactors might be. How economical, safe, proliferation-resistant are these reactors? To help us get the answers, Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, has offered to give us this presentation.
Mar 25, 2020
AUTHOR: Henry Sokolski
Reactors Large and Small: Three Hurdles
Henry Sokolski
University of Utah
Reactors Large and Small: An Overview
The Poor Economics of Large Reactors Is Driven by Construction Costs
New Large Reactors: Too Pricey to Compete
Early Attempts to Cut Containment Costs Failed
The Immense Cost of Accidents Is Not Properly Priced
Large Reactors: Nuclear Weapons Proliferation Risks
Why Might Small Reactors Do Better?
Why Might They Do Worse: Economics
Why Might They Not Be as Safe or Proliferation Resistant as Their Alternatives
How to Sniff Out What Makes Sense