Chu on nuke plants: Small is beautiful

Energy Secretary Steven Chu used a Wall Street Journal op-ed Tuesday to tout the potential of small, modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) that the Energy Department is trying to get off the ground in the U.S.

“Small modular reactors would be less than one-third the size of current plants. They have compact designs and could be made in factories and transported to sites by truck or rail. SMRs would be ready to ‘plug and play’ upon arrival,” he writes.

The op-ed touts provisions in the fiscal year 2011 White House budget request aimed at helping get designs for these small units licensed for commercial use. Modular construction would help reduce the capital costs of bringing new nuclear power generation on-line, and the units would be suitable for electric grids that can't accommodate large nuclear plants, Chu noted.

“Right now we are exploring a partnership with industry to obtain design certification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for one or two designs. These SMRs are based on proven light-water reactor technologies and could be deployed in about 10 years,” Chu’s op-ed states.

The idea has also begun attracting attention on Capitol Hill. The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee introduced legislation in November aimed at helping develop standardized designs for reactors of less than 300 megawatts.