While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pursuing an official tour of France and United States, securing public-private partnerships for small modular reactors (SMR) is on the top of India's agenda.
SMRs are actually advanced, miniature nuclear reactors with a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, which is about a third of the capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.
SMRs, capable of generating large amounts of low-carbon electricity, are are physically much smaller than conventional nuclear power reactors. Their systems and components can be factory-assembled and transported as a single unit for installation on-site.
The key advantages of SMRs stem from their small and modular design. Due to their compact size, SMRs can be sited in locations that may not be suitable for larger nuclear plants.
The ability to prefabricate SMR units, then ship and install them on-site, makes them more affordable to build compared to large reactors, which are often custom-designed for specific locations, leading to potential construction delays. SMRs offer reduced costs and shorter construction times, and their incremental deployment allows them to scale in line with growing energy demand.
A significant barrier to expanding energy access is infrastructure, particularly the limited grid coverage in rural areas and the high costs associated with connecting these areas to the grid.
A single power plant should ideally make up no more than 10 per cent of the total installed grid capacity. In areas lacking sufficient transmission lines and grid capacity, SMRs can be integrated into an existing grid or operate off-grid due to their smaller electrical output.
This provides a low-carbon power source for both industry and local communities. This is especially important for microreactors, a subset of SMRs designed to generate up to 10 MW(e). With even smaller footprints, microreactors are ideal for areas that lack reliable, clean, and affordable energy. Additionally, microreactors could be used as backup power sources in emergencies or replace diesel generators in remote communities and businesses.
Compared to traditional reactors, proposed SMR designs are typically simpler, with safety systems that often rely more on passive mechanisms and the inherent safety features of the reactor, such as low power and operating pressure.
This means no human intervention, external power, or additional force is required to shut down the system. Passive systems operate through natural physical processes like circulation, convection, gravity, and self-pressurisation. These built-in safety features significantly reduce the risk of unsafe radioactive releases into the environment or the public in the event of an accident.
SMRs also have lower fuel requirements. These power plants may only need refuelling every three to seven years, compared to every year or every alternate year for conventional plants. Some SMRs are even designed to operate for up to 30 years without the need for refuelling.