'Advanced' nuclear power and small modular reactors

SMRs will inevitably suffer diseconomies of scale: a 250 MW SMR will generate 25 percent as much power as a 1,000 MW reactor, but it will require more than 25 percent of the material inputs and staffing, and a number of other costs including waste management and decommissioning will be proportionally higher. Potential savings arising from standardised factory production will not make up for those diseconomies of scale.

Every independent economic assessment finds that electricity from SMRs will be more expensive than that from large reactors.

A study by WSP / Parsons Brinckerhoff, commissioned by the South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission, estimated costs of A$225 / MWh for SMRs based on the NuScale design under development in the US. As noted above, the Minerals Council of Australia states that SMRs won't find a market unless they can produce power at a cost of A$60-80 / MWh - about one-third of the WSP / Parsons Brinckerhoff estimate for NuScale technology.

A 2015 report by the International Energy Agency and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency predicts that electricity costs from SMRs will typically be 50−100 percent higher than for current large reactors.

In its July 2022 GenCostreport, CSIRO provides these 2030 cost estimates for Australia:

* Nuclear (small modular): A$136-326 / MWh

* Wind and solar PV with integration costs (transmission, storage and synchronous condensers) necessary to allow these variable renewables to provide 90 percent of demand in the National Electricity Market: A$61-82 / MWh.

A 2014 study published in Energy and Power Engineering concluded that fuel costs for integral pressurized water SMRs are estimated to be 15-70 percent higher than for large light water reactors, and points to research indicating similar comparisons for construction costs.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in 2018 concluded that it would not be viable to establish an SMR industry in the US unless the industry received "several hundred billion dollars of direct and indirect subsidies" over the next several decades "since present competitive energy markets will not induce their development and adoption."

Australia's energy future is renewable, not radioactive

The pursuit of SMRs or 'advanced' nuclear power in Australia would be expensive and protracted. The South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission stated in its 2016 report :

Advanced fast reactors and other innovative reactor designs are unlikely to be feasible or viable in the foreseeable future. The development of such a first-of-a-kind project in South Australia would have high commercial and technical risk. Although prototype anddemonstration reactors are operating, there is no licensed, commercially proven design. Development to that point would require substantial capital investment.