The expert revealed the reasons for the intention of the United States and Ukraine to build a modular nuclear reactor

Kyiv and Washington intend to build on the territory of Ukraine a small modular reactor capable of generating up to 60 megawatts of energy. The start of this pilot project at the 27th UN Climate Conference was announced by the US President’s Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry and Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko. The director of the Atominfo Center, Alexander Uvarov, told MK about the features of “small modules”, as well as what goals the Americans can pursue.

“Let’s start with the fact that at the moment there are no existing projects of small modular reactors (SMRs) in the world,” says Alexander Uvarov, an expert in nuclear energy. – The only such reactor is currently being built by China on the tropical island of Hainan. In the Celestial Empire, they like to collect all sorts of exotic things, and suddenly something will come of it. Moreover, there are enough funds, they can afford it. All the talk about small modular reactors is “at the stage of paper”, that is, at the stage of presentation, signing of agreements. This is the first. And secondly, in terms of economics, these small reactors will be worse than large-capacity reactors.

The expert points to a clear rule: the greater the power of the reactor, the cheaper the specific megawatt of power – the electricity generated. And, much more.

– But in absolute terms, a small modular reactor, in principle, will be cheaper than a large reactor. It’s like a wholesale, in a store you can buy one bag for a hundred rubles or two bags, for example, for 190. But if it happens that you don’t have 190 rubles with you, what to do, you buy one bag. Therefore, it is not necessary to say that these small modular reactors are the future of energy. Economically, they are worse. In terms of security and everything else, “small modules” are not much different from large ones.

Alexander Uvarov notes that this direction with SMRs was promoted in America a few years ago as a kind of counterbalance to Russian and Chinese reactors.

“Because the Americans are losing both to us and to China in this regard. But what if their reactors are inferior to ours? It is necessary to somehow “change the landscape”, to convince that high-power reactors are not very good, this is a “backward” past, but a “small module” is excellent, the future is for SMR.

The expert recalls that Russia has a floating nuclear power plant “Akademik Lomonosov”. We also have projects for small modular reactors.

— They will be built in Yakutia. We believe that it makes sense to build small reactors, for example, in remote areas of the Far North, where there are no large consumers. For example, in such small towns as Pevek, where about 5-10 thousand people live. For them, a small modular reactor will do. This is cheaper than transporting diesel fuel there along the winter road or pulling power lines from somewhere a thousand kilometers away.

Russia has finished MMK projects.

— The real customers are African countries. They have a great interest in nuclear energy, but they have neither their own industry nor their own personnel. In this case, it is easier for them to start with small reactors. Buy an SMR, learn how to work on it, and then build a large reactor.

— What can be said about the joint plans of Ukraine and the United States?

These plans have been around for a long time. Kyiv was going to buy 20 such reactors from the American company Holtec. It should be noted that this company still does not have not only a “live” small modular reactor “in hardware”, but also a finished project. On the other hand, a memorandum has been signed, the portfolio of orders from this company is growing, and it can apply for investments. Roughly speaking, representatives of Holtec will now walk around, show investors, look, they say, Ukraine has ordered 20 small modular reactors. The attention of the whole world is now riveted to Kyiv. It is convenient to use Ukraine for your PR campaign.

– The Americans do not hide their intentions to oust Russia from the world nuclear fuel market.

“The United States is still buying nuclear fuel from us. Let them take care of themselves first. But, speaking seriously, America certainly has such plans. If the confrontation, the beginning of a new cold war, drags on for a long time, then the United States, of course, will fully provide its bloc, its supporters with nuclear fuel. But it will be possible to seriously talk about this in five years, not earlier.

– What is behind the statement of John Kerry and German Galushchenko about the start of a pilot project for the construction of a small modular reactor in Ukraine?

– This is their standard propaganda, which is now everywhere. Kyiv needs to declare successes. Military action is one thing, but in Ukraine, the undercover struggle of various clans continues. The nuclear industry is in the hands of one particular clan, but there are others who want to push them away and take their place. Therefore, the clan that now “holds” nuclear energy must constantly say that they “overcame the Muscovites” at least in this regard. I don’t see anything serious behind all this yet. For now, this is the distant future.