Gonzaga de Oliveira, Rodrigo Gonzalez

DOE OSTI2024

Towards Cost-Competitive Microreactors

To assess the cost competitiveness of microreactors, a new tool integrating reactor design calculations with economic models was developed. Using detailed cost data and design specifications from the MARVEL project (85 kWth), the tool estimates costs for a more representative commercial microreactor (20 MWth). The LCOE for a 20 MWth MARVEL-like reactor is estimated at $236/MWh, with an overnight cost of about $12,000/kW (excluding fuel). Mass production could reduce costs by 70%, making the 10th unit cost around $3,700/kWe, which is economically competitive. The new neutronics-economics coupling tool also enables studying the impact of the design parameters on the economic figures of merit. The impact of changing the enrichment and reactor capacity on the LCOE has been studied.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Technoeconomic Evaluation of Microreactor Using Detailed Bottom-up Estimate (Rev.1)

Microreactors are a novel class of nuclear reactors that are expected to be factory produced, transportable, and self-regulating. They are expected to be several orders of magnitude smaller in size than traditional reactors (with power outputs in the 1–20 MWe range typically). They are primarily envisaged to target niche, remote markets that are difficult to access and where energy costs are high. There has been a scarcity of technoeconomic assessment for these types of reactors due to the scarcity of designs without proprietary restraints (e.g., those that include balance of plants and building layouts) and cost estimates. The primary objective of this report was to develop a transparent, detailed, bottom-up cost estimate for a microreactor. While there is a high degree of uncertainty associated with the projected costs, this work provides a foundation that can built upon and improved to better model the economics of microreactors. The Microreactor Applications Research, Validation, and Evaluation (MARVEL) microreactor was selected for this analysis. This Department of Energy–sponsored demonstration was chosen because (1) its final design was recently completed and (2) a detailed class-3 cost-and-schedule estimation was conducted for it. This provided a strong technical basis for further analysis.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗